Evie
by Elizabeth.M.Kelli
Summary: Eveleen Smith is not an ordinary girl, but she doesn't realize that. Then she meets Captain Jack Harkness by chance, questions are answered and far more are raised. Crossover with Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah-Jane Adventures.
1. Eveleen Rhiangar Smith

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood begins roughly one year before the beginning of the TV series, Doctor Who should be just after Season 2, and The Sarah Jane adventures is in the middle of season one, just before 'What Happened to Sarah Jane?' I have tweaked the timelines slightly, so all these things are happening at the same time. Because technically SJA, shouldn't have started just yet, and I wanted to fit that into this chapter of the story.**_

_**XX**_

Eveleen Smith was not wholly ordinary. She didn't realize of course, no one ever realizes their own extraordinary-ness without growing an ego larger than their own planet. It was simply impossible. Eveleen had been a student in theoretical physics, working on her Masters when she quit out of the blue. She wouldn't explain it to anyone, and her teachers and fellow students were all rather disappointed. "She had such promise" they would all murmur shaking their heads in wonderment. They couldn't understand why one of their brightest would abandon her course of study.

She moved to Wales, where she lived when she was very young. She moved into her family's manor, which had been neglected for the last fifty years, since Eveleen's grandfather had died, leaving it to his only daughter, who had never returned. The people of the little town just to the South of the manor, had long since been accustomed to the manor sitting empty, and had reeled in shock when a girl had come out of nowhere to claim her inheritance. But she quietly lived on the manor grounds, and bothered no one. She came down every few days to get groceries, or basic cleaning products, but she rarely said more than "Hello" or "I'm doing fine, you?" The people of the town soon forgot that the manor had once been a neglected shell, and that Eveleen Smith had not always lived there.

Eveleen herself spent all her time searching through family records and internet searches to try and find proof that she really existed. She never told anyone, but she had gone to hear her mother's will read, only to find that she had been left out. Friends her mother had not spoken with in years had been remembered, but nothing, not even a kind word, had been left for Eveleen herself.

Eveleen had found that while she had a birth certificate, and her mother's name was on it, and it had been filed away, her mother had never signed it. Her father's name wasn't even listed. So the hunt began. She left school and went to the ancestral home, where no one lived, and no one wanted to claim. The records showed no hint of her, but she wasn't bothered much by it. Her grandfather had died before she was born after all. But when her internet searches seemed to indicate that she had never been to secondary, never taken her A-levels or her GCSEs she began to worry. Sure the test scores were there, but they were so much lower than she remembered. She remembered getting the highest A-level score out of everyone who went to school in the same city, she was just a little short of some guy living in London, who they said got the highest score that year. But her recorded scores were only just barely enough to get her into her program of theoretical physics.

Eveleen spent one full year searching through records before she felt the need to leave. This house was one that belonged to the Wolffe family for generations, it seemed she was not a Wolffe after all, and she needed to leave before someone with a real claim came around. It would be years later that she finally returned to find a note in a hidden compartment of the desk the lord of the manor had used every generation, to find the proof of her existence.

**_XX_**

When she left the manor, she had no desire to go back to her schooling, and she didn't really want anything to do with physics or any other type of science. So she moved into a small cheap flat on the poorer side of Cardiff, and got a job as a barkeep in a pub just off the Roald Dahl Plass. It wasn't the best pay, but it was enough to pay her rent and buy her necessities, and still have a little to save every pay check. It was meager little savings, but enough that if some emergency came up, she could probably pay to deal with it.

She had a few odd clients come in. There was the man in the RAF greatcoat, normally she would have said he belonged in the loony bin, but he was handsome, and flirty, and he always left a great tip for the underappreciated barkeep. He was sometimes accompanied by a pretty, if tough woman, who never seemed to have a smile for anyone but the man in the greatcoat. Several times they were accompanied by a snarky man who drank alcohol like a man drinks water in a desert. He usually left her a decent tip, but it wasn't as good as the man in the greatcoat. He wasn't as cute either. Once a pretty little Asian girl came around with them, she didn't drink any alcohol, and she seemed nervous the whole time. She didn't seem to realize that people usually left a tip, and got flustered when Mr. Snark and Mr. Greatcoat pulled out a few pounds for her. She left a far too large tip, and Eveleen almost made her take some of it back, but it would let her buy a steak for dinner, instead of cheap ground round, and she kept all of it.

Then there was the night when she was working and a strange creature came running in. It looked a bit like a fish, if there was a fish that could breathe air and walk on two legs and hold her at gunpoint. In comes Mr. Greatcoat, and Ms. No-Smile and they're holding the damn fish-thing at gunpoint, which is the point where a gun got pointed at Eveleen by Mr. Fish ("you should always use proper addresses for people, it's polite" she could recall her mother telling me, and she could remember adopting semi-rude names with a 'proper address' for all her mother's friends. She wondered if any of it actually happened).

"Should I shoot her?" The Mr. Fish asked a laugh seeming to be hidden behind his watery voice.

"Well, Mr. Fish, shooting people who are willing to serve you alcohol is generally a bad idea," Eveleen told him shifting slightly so she was leaning on the bar. She didn't want to die. But if she was about to get shot she might as well get a word in edgewise.

While Mr. Fish was distracted by his victim suddenly speaking, Mr. Greatcoat swung his gun up, and put a bullet through Mr. Fish's head, spraying the unfortunate Eveleen with gore. She tensed up dramatically, her mouth opening, looking as though she was about to back away from the gore covered bar, before a single drop of blood just above her lip touched the inside of her mouth, and she convulsed. Everything was pain for a moment before sudden, blessed, darkness.

**_XX_**

When Eveleen woke Mr. Snark was standing over her with a lab coat on, and stethoscope around his neck. He didn't notice she was awake at first, as he was partially turned away from her looking at something on the wall in front of her.

"So, where am I? Hospital?" Eveleen asked shifting uncomfortably, knowing she probably wasn't supposed to sit up.

"No, but I am a doctor. You seem to be fine now. I don't know why you were convulsing earlier. Any history? There's nothing in your medical records, but then all that's in your records are check-ups from childhood," Mr. - no Dr. Snark said looking down at her.

"You know, having a man you know to be prone to getting drunk as your doctor isn't exactly comforting. But no, never really had fits like that before. And if you're a doctor why aren't we in a hospital?" Eveleen asked sitting up, deciding that Dr. Snark would probably make her lie back if she needed to be lying down. Of course it was then that she realized she wasn't wearing her clothes. She had been wearing basic black pants, and a white shirt with a cute pinstriped vest (her usual clothes for work), but now she was wearing a white tee-shirt that was a bit too big, and a pair of black pants that she was pretty sure didn't belong to a woman.

"Because we don't know why you collapsed, but we're guessing it had something to do with the Blowfish, and they're kind of our area of expertise. But we can't find anything that would indicate poisoning or parasites or anything in your blood stream,"

"You mean Mr. Fish? You've dealt with guys like him often enough to have a name for them?" Eveleen asked surprised.

"Well, you had seen him all of two seconds before you started calling him Mr. Fish," Came Mr. Greatcoat's voice from behind and above Eveleen.

"Well, that was a daughter who had extensive social training rebelling. Nothing to worry about," Eveleen said flippantly, "Or at least I think it is," She murmured too low for even Mr. Snark to catch.

"Well, then, Ms. Extensive Social Training, care to grace us with your name?" Mr. Greatcoat asked nearly as sarcastic as Eveleen herself.

"Eveleen Smith," She said bowing her head and flourishing her arms to look like a curtsy.

"Captain Jack Harkness," Cpt. Harkness introduced himself with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye that made it look like he was flirting. He probably was, she had seen him flirt with everything on who legs in the pub, "That's Dr. Owen Harper behind you. He's just a little grouchy he doesn't know what's wrong with you."

"Oh, he always seems grouchy to me. Drunk and grouchy," Eveleen said with a grin to tell Dr. Harper that she was mostly just joking.

"Is she okay for a tour of the hub?" Cpt. Harkness asked the doctor.

"I can't find anything wrong with her now. I suppose so long as she doesn't leave the hub it's probably fine. Don't show her the weevils or go shooting. I don't want to risk it. Might have just been shock," Cpt. Harkness and Eveleen gave him a look at that, "Yeah, I didn't really think so either."

"Come along Ms. Smith," Cpt. Harkness said with a gallant gesture. Eveleen found herself laughing as she got up and rounded the stairs to the upper level.

"Well, first off, where is here?" Eveleen asked looking around through the main part of the hub. The two women she had seen at the pub (Ms. Tough and Ms. Shy), were working at desks. Ms. Tough had an arrangement of tools and metal and tools surrounding her, while Ms. Shy had several computer screens and a couple of strange looking things, which looked like they could have fallen out of a sci-fi flick.

"This is the Torchwood 3 hub, underneath the Roald Dahl Plass," Eveleen started at the last bit.

"Underneath the Plass? I've been passing over this place every day for the last year?" Eveleen looked around with new appreciation for the slightly run down room.

"Yeah, I suppose you have. Is that how long you've been in Cardiff Ms. Smith? A year?" Cpt. Harkness asked calmly. Eveleen was aware that he was probably fishing for information, and not just curious, but she didn't mind much.

"Hmm, I've lived in Cardiff just under a year, lived outside a little town good bit North of here for a year before that," Eveleen looked off and pretended she didn't see Cpt. Harkness make a little gesture towards Ms. Shy, "Doesn't matter much anymore. I don't think I'll ever go back there."

"Why not?"

"I couldn't belong. Not my fault really. I just wasn't who I thought I was," The smile of Eveleen's face was heartbreaking, and she looked around again, "So why don't you introduce me? Bet it's not every day a pretty barkeep gets brought down here."

"Right, Dr. Toshiko Sato, and Ms. Suzie Costello meet Ms. Eveleen Smith," Cpt. Harkness introduced seeming to realize that he wasn't going to get anything else out of Eveleen that day.

"Eveleen Rhiangar Smith. Mam was very very Welsh," Eveleen added with a wide grin.

"You don't sound Welsh," Cpt. Harkness commented after Dr. Sato and Ms. Costello had exchanged brief hellos with Eveleen.

"Mam moved away from Wales when I was three, I picked up a 'proper English' accent as my older brother frequently told me before he moved off for college. I was ten at the time," Eveleen said with a grin and a laugh, "He was always having a go at me. He was a proper big brother, the kind that takes the mickey and beats up the stupid ex-boyfriends, and current boyfriends for that matter too."

"Where does he live then?" Cpt. Harkness asked thinking it a safe topic. The grin faded and Eveleen looked positively sober.

"Dunno. He moved from his old apartment after Mam's funeral, and I didn't hear from him again. Mam's will was read almost a year after she died, they couldn't find my brother. He just vanished off the face of the earth. He was in Mam's will, got Mam's old house, and most things in it. But he wasn't there to receive them," Eveleen's voice was choked at that point. No one knew where he was.

"Where was he last seen? What's his name?" Dr. Sato asked compassionately.

"He moved from London, said he was moving back home. But he had never lived in the old manor house. We lived in a town just North of here for the first couple years of my life. Right up till Tad died, then Mam needed to be somewhere else. We all assumed he would move there, but he was never listed," Eveleen explained, "His name is Aethelred Bryant Smith."

"That's a…very particular name," The captain said looking uncomfortable. Eveleen caught it immediately.

"Have you met him? Did he move to Cardiff. He's the only thing—" Eveleen caught herself and didn't continue. She really shouldn't be pouring her heart out to strangers like this, but the captain really was cute, and so was Dr. Snark down there, and Dr. Sato seemed friendly, and, and, well , she just couldn't stop herself.

"I'm guessing he's the only family you have left?" the Captain asked a warm look in his eyes, but Eveleen exploded.

"I don't even know if he is family. I don't think I'm real. My birth certificate has all the makings of a fake, and the scores I know I got for my GCSEs and A-levels, they don't match with the records. Mam left me nothing in the will, and Aethelred, never even tried to get in contact with me, even though we were SO close growing up. Nothing in my life adds up. _**NOTHING!**_" Eveleen screamed the last bit, her self-control failing, "I don't even know if my name is really Eveleen Rhiangar. Did you know, Eveleen means 'little life,' you'd think someone cared to give me such an endearing name, Rhiangar means _love_ god-damn it all! Someone should CARE!"

"I'm sorry," Cpt. Harkness said before folding her into his arms in a tight hug, "I have met him. It was a long time ago, and he was far more lost than I was. I met him in Cardiff, just off the bay, sort of close to here. But it was in 1945, he got sucked into the Rift. As far as I know he lived a happy life, got married had kids. I think he had a couple grandkids."

"1945? 1945?" Eveleen said pulling away, "You're not old enough to have seen 1945, you can't be more than fifteen years older than me. You can't have even been _born. _You're a LIAR!"

"No, I'm a former time traveller," Jack argued calmly, bringing her back into his arms, "I was visiting 1945 with two old friends of mine, and I ran into him. When I came back here, I checked on him, because I admit that I quite liked him. Even fancied him a little. I can get Tosh here to look him up for you."

"Yes, please,"

"One moment," 'Tosh' said typing on her computer for a moment, "Here, Aethelred Bryant Smith, died August 18, 1951. Married Barbara Lucia Dunn December 30, 1946. Says here that he went by Eddie Smith from shortly after his wedding to Barbara. He was adopted by a family, and had one brother adopted brother, who in turn later adopted a little boy. Eddie and Barbara had four children, Annalise, John, Rhiangar, and Sarah-Jane. Annalise, John, and Rhiangar all married. Annalise had one son, named Bryant after her father, John had two children, Jean and Rhiannon twin girls, Rhiangar had six children, but three of them died in infancy, one was a miscarriage, the other two were boys named James and Richard. Sarah-Jane, while she never married adopted a boy named Luke recently, actually. The paperwork here is dated for days ago."

"Poor Aethelred," Eveleen said finally cracking a smile.

"Why? Looks like he lived a good life with family." The captain asked looking confused.

"He's always hated kids. Even when we were little he swore he would never have anything to do with them, but look here he had four," Eveleen was laughing and crying a little at the same time. "I'd like to meet them. Maybe he'd have said something about me to someone. Maybe they'd know me."

"That…might not be wise," Cpt. Harkness started before Eveleen broke in.

"Why not? I just have to talk to them for a moment. If they know my name, then I'll know I exist. That's all," Eveleen asked teary-eyed.

"I'll call Sarah-Jane," The Captain said after a long moment of silence. He wandered off deeper into the hub, and Eveleen just plopped herself on the floor. Maybe she'd finally have proof she exists.

**_XX_**

Four and a half hours later Eveleen was pulling up in front of number 13 Bannerman road along with Cpt. Harkness, who was driving. It was a big house, a good bit bigger than most of the other houses on the street. It had a walled garden, and sitting in the drive was a cute little green car, that Eveleen didn't know the make of, but wished she had one.

"Captain Harkness?" A woman asked from the front door as Eveleen and the Captain left the SUV.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, this is a horrible way to meet isn't it?" Cpt. Harkness said with a grin, "It's always nice to meet a former companion of the Doctor though." The last comment scrambled Eveleen's brain for a moment before smiling.

"Hi, I'm Eveleen Rhiangar Smith. I've been looking for my family, and I think we might be related," Eveleen said holding out her hand.

"Eveleen Smith? I'm afraid I don't know the name. Are you one of my sibling children? I don't keep in touch very well I'm afraid," Sarah-Jane said taking Eveleen's hand.

"No, actually I was looking for my brother. He disappeared a few years back, and he seemed to have shown up in Cardiff 1945 out of nowhere. So I had just been hoping that he might have mentioned me to someone," Eveleen explained with a heartbroken smile.

"Well, I wouldn't be the one to look up," Sarah-Jane said with her own sad smile, "I was the youngest, and our parents died when I was very young. It would be best to speak with Annalise. She was nearly six when they died. She might remember something, but all the same, it might be best if you don't."

"Why?"

"Because Anna hasn't been in her right mind lately, John and Rhiangar might remember something, but I wouldn't count on it. They were four and two when our parents died. None of us have –" Sarah-Jane explained kindly, taking completely in stride the fact that there was a girl on her doorstep, only about ten years older than her son, saying she might be her aunt.

"Mum?" A voice called breaking into Sarah-Jane's explanation. The voice was shown to be a boy about 13 years old with light brown hair, who peaked around the doorframe.

"Yes, Luke?" Sarah-Jane responded turning to look at her adoptive son.

"Maria says you should see something. It's on the computer upstairs," Luke was obviously being careful with words in front of people he didn't know. Eveleen got the impression he had said the wrong thing before, and gotten into trouble.

"Well, back to work I suppose. Captain, would you like to stay, or should you be getting back to Cardiff," The was an inflection in her voice that implied that would prefer that the he went back to Cardiff, and soon at that.

"We should be getting back. We might call your siblings, but it looks like it might be a dead end," Cpt. Harkness replied subtly pushing a saddened Eveleen back into the SUV.

"Eveleen?" Sarah-Jane said just before the younger woman entered the car.

"Yes?"

"You're welcome to visit. Even if it turns out we aren't related, Luke could do with an aunt to spoil him," Sarah-Jane said with a smile that said she wouldn't mind having an aunt either.

"I can do that," Eveleen said with a happy grin, pushing her fears and insecurities to the back of her mind.

**_XX_**

When they returned to Cardiff it was early evening, and the Captain dropped her at her apartment, before telling her "Come to this address tomorrow morning, I'll meet you. I think you and I should talk a bit." He handed her a slip of paper and drove off in his big black SUV. Eveleen shook her head before stepping into her apartment. It was then that she realized how little she liked the little place.

All the walls were still default white, and the furniture was the cheapest stuff Eveleen could get her hands on. Some of it had been scavenged from the trash, and only just standing held together with duct tape. There were no pictures displayed (she didn't have money for nice frames), and she had never been a knick-knack-y kind of person, and even had she been it was all in her Mam's house, which belonged to her dead older brother, who may or may not have even been related to her. She had just a few outfits, which were nice for work, and all the rest was from thrift shops, and they didn't quite match, and a few didn't quite fit right.

Before her identity crisis she had been stylish, she had been bright and sarcastic, and she owned more books than would fit in her dorm room. She had left boxes of them at her Mam's, and they were probably still there. She had a bank account, which kept her going on food and clothing, with extras for the stylish bits and more books. Where had everything gone?

It was then she realized that she would do just about anything to make it all fit again; to become who she used to be.

"Cpt. Harkness?" Eveleen asked nervously knocking on the door, which said "CLOSED." She checked the address the Captain had given her again before knocking on the door again. Nothing.

She tried the door and found it unlocked. So she opened it. It wasn't like she was snooping or anything, she had been told to come to this address this morning, and it just made sense to wait inside if she was going to wait. After all, it looked like it was going to rain again soon, it wouldn't hurt to stay dry.

And she stepped behind the counter, not because she was snooping, but she was…she was looking for a chair. After all if she had to wait awhile she might as well be sitting. And it wasn't snooping when she looked through the papers behind the counter, she was organizing them.

Okay, she was snooping, and very obviously at that. But she hadn't found anything when she heard voices outside.

"Morning, Coffee?" Eveleen doesn't know that voice. Some guy, there's a pause before -

"Wow!" that was Jack.

"I want to work for you." That was the other man. Was that a welsh accent? Eveleen was pretty sure it was.

"Sorry. No vacancies." Jack replied. He didn't sound happy. Why did he want to meet Eveleen here anyway?

"Look, let me tell you about myself." Eveleen couldn't help but want to see this guy, he was pretty persistent from the sound of it.

"Ianto Jones, born August 19th 1983. (Walks off, talking.) Able student but not exceptional, one minor conviction for shoplifting in your teens. Number of temporary jobs, mainly a drifter, until two years ago you join the Torchwood Institute in London. Junior researcher. Girlfriend, Lisa Hallett." Sounds like Jack did his homework about this guy then. But Eveleen was thinking, What's Torchwood?

"Deceased." Jeez, poor guy. Eveleen felt bad for the guy, sounds like he really liked that girl.

"I'm sorry." Unfortunately Captain Greatcoat out there didn't sound like her was sorry.

"Look, you checked me out." This Ianto guy really was persistent he wasn't gonna leave the poor Captain alone was he? Of course, if Eveleen was looking for a job she'd probably chase down the Captain too.

"You knew what a Weevil was. Thought I was gonna have to come deal with you." But Eveleen _didn't_ know what a Weevil was, why was the Captain interested in her. Sure she's got a sob story, but so does this guy.

"But instead you could see I have the right qualifications for the job." Eveleen couldn't help thinking, 'what job?'

"There is no job. We're nothing to do with Torchwood London. I severed all links." Eveleen heard some footsteps, apparently it was the Captain coming towards the tourist shop. IN which case Eveleen was probably about to get burned for listening, although it wasn't really her fault; they were the ones having a private conversation right where the Captain was supposed to meet up with her.

"Yet when it burned, two members of your team scavenged the ruins." Oooh, What ruins?

"Don't want the equipment getting into the wrong hands." Equipment? Eveleen couldn't help thinking about the strange things that Dr. Sato and Ms. Costello had been tinkering with the morning before.

"And you're the right hands, are you? Trial period, three months." Okay, Eveleen was NOT standing up and walking across the room to get a look at the persistent guy with the accent. Okay, she was.

"No." Damn, but this Ianto guy was cute. Mr. Jones had a cute little baby face, he couldn't be more than a year or so older than Eveleen herself, and she was 24. But he had apparently had something to do with a place burning and the ruins afterwards, and if Eveleen's brain was working at all, that was probably where the girlfriend died.

"Three weeks. Three days. Let me prove myself to you. I'll work for nothing." Now, that was something that Eveleen would not do. Work for nothing. She was only getting by as it was. No way in hell would she ever agree to that, let alone suggest it. This guy was desperate. The Captain should just give him the job.

"No." Jerk.

"I saw what they did at Canary Wharf. What am I supposed to do with those memories?" Now that was something that Eveleen did recognize. The weird Pepper-pot things with horrible dialogue were supposedly from there.

"You are not my responsibility. And we're not hiring." Cold jerk. But then Eveleen realized that he was probably about to come in the shop. And Eveleen was peeking out the window. Crap.

"Same time tomorrow then." Okay, so, Mr. Jones is officially Eveleen's new favorite person.

"There is no job for you here and there never will be." Really mean jerk. Maybe Eveleen doesn't want to talk to him after all. He's being mean to such a hot guy. Jerk.

"I really like that coat." Unfortunately Eveleen agreed. That coat was just ridiculously hot on him, who cares if it's old, and makes him a little odd. It was damn hot.

Eveleen leans against a wall away from the door, trying to look like she hadn't just been snooping and spying. Although some of it had been accidental.

"Oh, you're already here," Cpt. Harkness said upon opening the door, "Then I'm sure you just heard that whole conversation."

"Yeah, a bit rude to the poor guy. I mean you did look him up and everything, and he's hot," The last bit Eveleen hadn't intended to say and her face showed it clearly.

"Yeah, but I needed him to go away. I don't have a place here for a junior researcher and I have no intention of having anything to do with Torchwood One ever again, now that they're gone. Their policies and attitudes just don't sit well with me. 'If it's alien, it's ours' That's how they saw the world. Never mind that some aliens don't have any interest in taking over the world or any of that. Some of them actually try to save the whole stupid earth. It's ridiculous," Cpt. Harkness ranted losing Eveleen a bit, till the mention of aliens. She shouldn't be surprised. What else could that thing the other day have been. Just then it hit Eveleen.

"I missed work yesterday!" Eveleen shouted right into the Captains continued rants of Torchwood One.

"What?" He looked surprised.

"I was supposed to work yesterday, and extra hours at that. Then I went and missed work all day, and I didn't even call in to say I was sick. They're going to fire me, and that is a MAJOR problem, because I NEED the money," Eveleen said sliding down the wall, till she was huddled at the bottom.

"Tosh called into your work yesterday, said you were dealing with family issues, which you were, and that you couldn't get into work," The Captain said squatting in front of her, so they were face to face, "Your rescheduled your hours. You're supposed to go in at two this afternoon, and he said you'll be working till closing, unless something else comes up."

"Oh," Eveleen said quietly, "Thank you. Tosh…That's Dr. Sato right?"

"Everyone here at Torchwood Three call her Tosh, speaking of which…Can I call you Evie?" The captain asked the last bit with a grin.

"What? No! I like my name. Plus, I got stuck with Evie all through school. I hate it," Eveleen said with a scowl.

"Evie it is!" The Captain said with a grin. The newly christened Evie shook her head but she was smiling a bit inwards. Aethelred had always insisted on calling her Evie too. Life would be too boring without someone ribbing her about her name.

"So, why did you need to talk to me this morning?" Evie asked sitting up a bit.

"Well, first off I had to tell you about the rescheduling of you hours at work. But I also wanted to offer you a job here. Just part-time if you want," Cpt. Harkness offered to Evie's stunned disgust.

"You just told Mr. Hot-Jones out there that there weren't any job offerings, when you were on your way to offer me a job I could refuse?" Evie asked indignantly springing up from the ground.

"Well, I don't have an opening for a Junior Researcher, but I do have an opening for a prodigy in theoretical physics," the Captain said looking not even mildly upset by her fury.

"You absolute ass-faced jerk! I wasn't looking for a new job, but this desperate man who is willing to work for nothing comes along and you're as rude as possibly to him, but I follow your instructions like a stupid little girl, show no initiative, and you offer me a job out of the blue. Because I _USED_ to have something in my future. Something that I abandoned. You didn't even _think_ to wonder why I didn't return to my studies? Because _Mam_ wanted me to go into the sciences. I was good, I was smart, in fact I might have even been brilliant. But when she died and I realized that nothing I remember is right, I left. I couldn't do what Mam wanted me to do, when I wasn't even sure she was my Mam." Evie yelled at him venting things she had never spoken before, the reasons she never explained. The things that her teachers had wondered about, but never asked.

"Working here, we might be able to figure out what happened to your personal history. We could piece it together and try to figure out why you don't seem to exist. That's what I'm offering you. What I didn't offer Jones, Ianto Jones because I don't need a researcher. Not when I have Tosh's brilliance, and potentially your brilliance as well. Then I have Suzie for the practical weapons and tech expertise. I don't need someone trained to file papers. Even if he does make amazing coffee," The last bit sounded a little regretful. That must be some brilliant coffee to make Mr. Stubborn there think regretfully.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning with my answer. Give me a day," Evie said after a bit of a silence, "Oh, what's the pay like?"

"Better than what you get now, even at part-time," Harkness said with an affectedly casual shrug. Damn, but he caught her.

**_XX_**

_**I should probably be working on one of my old stories…but I don't have any inspiration for them right now. See the Harry Potter part of my brain has been partially invaded by Doctor Who, Torchwood, and the Sarah Jane Adventures. Although, Dollhouse has also taken over a part…**_

_**Well, anyway, new story. Sorry guys!**_

_**Interestingly Evie was originally named Cealya Marie Smith, then she was Cealya Wolffe for awhile. Then I had a strange dream involving Cealya and Jack and the far future, and I decided to change her name. So now her name has a meaning, which we're all now aware of. I've also decided that I really love Welsh names, some of them are so strange in an awesome way.**_

_**Well, I'll see if I get any positive feedback, because I'm not sure how far I'm actually going to go with this story. I may just go to the end of season one, and leave out all kinds of stuff that happens after that in my head. But I might also go to the end of season two to fix some of the stuff that really bugs me about Torchwood, and some revelations that don't have to happen. Or I could go all the way through Children on Earth and try to save our dear, dear Ianto, who should never have died.**_

_**Most chapters probably won't be this long, because this one was just supposed to introduce Evie and how she's connected with the storylines. There is a good reason for the Doctor Who Crossover, but I'm not telling just yet.**_

_**Please tell me what you think.**_


	2. Everything Changes

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is currently one year before the beginning of the TV series, and in this chapter reaches the end of episode 1 of series 1, Doctor Who should be just after Season 2, and The Sarah Jane adventures is in the middle of season one, just before 'What Happened to Sarah Jane?' I have tweaked the timelines slightly, so all these things are happening at the same time. **_

_**XX**_

Evie went home, took a shower, and got ready for work. A light blue buttoned shirt, and black and white pinstriped vest and a pair of black pants, all of them starting show wear. She'd new ones soon. But she couldn't exactly afford them could she? Her paycheck came next week, and what she had she needed for food. Maybe after the paycheck.

Maybe she could take Cpt. Harkness's job. But he's a jerk and Evie's not sure if she wants to deal with that. Well, yes she does. He's damn hot, and Dr. Harper's not bad looking either. Tosh seems nice, and Ms. Costello could be okay if she spoke, or smiled. Evie already knew she had lost that argument. She was going to go to the tourist office tomorrow morning, and she was going to accept the job. It didn't matter that she would need to be a science nerd again, or that it was apparently potentially dangerous, or that her boss was a jerk. The pay was better than at the pub, and it was more suited to her, she knew it, she just didn't want to.

Evie went through the motions at work. Filled orders, and smiled with customers. She acted exactly like she had everyday this last year; except yesterday. Yesterday she had flirted, joked, and broke down like she needed to.

Around 22:00, in walks Captain Jack Harkness and co. By Company, it means Ms. Costello, Dr. Harper, and Tosh. Of course it wasn't just like always. Cpt. Harkness and Dr. Harper drink a lot sure, but Ms. Costello makes a point of speaking to Evie, and Tosh isn't quite so nervous as last time. Then there's the fact that Cpt. Harkness is avoiding her eyes.

"So, Captain, why aren't you looking at me?" Evie finally asked in a slow moment.

"Because you were annoyingly right," the Captain replied before swigging his beer.

"You should learn right now, I'm _always_ right. Anything science related, I'll get right the first time, and anything socially related…well you've seen that first-hand already," Evie told him with a grin, "I'll see you tomorrow morning; I'm looking forward to a bigger paycheck." With that Evie danced off down the bar to fill another order.

_**XX**_

When Evie walked into the tourist office the next day she was joined shortly after by Mr. Hot-Jones. So Evie took a moment to appreciate before speaking.

"I see the Captain got his head out of his ass," Evie commented calmly, "I'm Eveleen Smith. But the Captain has arbitrarily decided that I'm going to be Evie from now on. I don't mind much."

"I'm Ianto Jones. I'm afraid I haven't heard of you before," Mr. Hot-Jones said apologetically.

"That's alright. I reamed him a new one yesterday when after you told you there wasn't any job openings he turned about and offered me one. I wasn't happy, especially since I missed a day of work before that because Captain Greatcoat decided to give into my half-incoherent pleas," Evie told him leaning against the same wall she had the day before.

The wall next to Evie slid open and out came the Captain. He was short the distinctive coat, but Evie thought the suspenders and rolled up sleeves were just as nice.

"I suppose you two have been exchanging stories about how horrible a person I am?" He asked with a little smirk.

"Oh, no he was a perfect gentleman," Evie replied leaving the obvious _but I wasn't_ unsaid.

"Somehow I don't doubt it. I'll give you two tours and some training, but Ianto, this'll be your office up here. Evie you have a desk next to Tosh's downstairs," the Captain told them while gesturing for them to follow him through the open doorway.

"How come he gets his own office," Evie whined while grinning at Ianto behind the Captain's back. Her newest goal in life to make the Captain's a misery.

"Because he's our new guard dog. Well, him and the pterodactyl we caught last night," Jack told her.

"He had to catch a pterodactyl to join? That's just not right! All I had to do was tell you my sob story while Tosh looked up my history, to tell you I was good at physics! Jerk!" Somehow it never crossed Evie's mind that she should be more polite to this man now that he was her boss. She didn't think it ever crossed his mind either.

"And this is why you're my new conscience. I've apparently been short one a long time," Jack replied making Evie grin.

"Does this mean I get to insult you, and point out all your flaws and make you feel guilty?" Evie asked eagerly quickening her step and hanging on the Captain's back.

"Is that any different from what you were going to do anyway?" he asked, which made Evie release him.

"I suppose there's a point there. Well, Ianto you're my new best friend. I haven't had one of those since Secondary anyway," Evie announced bouncing along behind the Captain. Somehow the men seemed to take her in stride. No doubt someday in the future they would all go back and laugh at that moment where they all started work together.

_**XX**_

Training was not as easy as Evie thought it would be. First she had to learn how to fire a gun; something she had never thought about before. Evie had never had a reason to need a gun, and it had always looked so easy on TV. Yeah, it wasn't easy. Jones, Ianto Jones zoomed right through firearm training, because he had to learn at Torchwood One. Then she had to read a stupid manual, and create a logon for the Torchwood network which no one, not even her brother would ever guess, which took longer than it should have. Turns out the only thing she had never told her older brother was the name of her teddy bear from when she was little. Why in the world she had never told anyone the dumb bear's name was beyond her. But it worked well enough.

By the end of the day she was ready to hit Ianto, the Captain, and Dr. Snark. She actually had hit one of the dummies down in the firing range, so the Captain decided to teach her unarmed combat too. She insulted him soundly.

As she was leaving Ianto caught up with her. She looked over at him and sighed. He was going to go and be all nice to her.

"You okay? You seem a little frustrated," He asked as they walked.

"I'm fine. I just need to go to sleep before I hit Captain Greatcoat or down there," Evie told him neglecting the fact that he was on her list of people to hit too.

"You have nicknames for all of them, what's mine?" Ianto asked changing the subject. That made Evie grin, she liked his nickname.

"Mr. Hot-Jones," Evie said laughing a bit. Ianto stopped looking at her owlishly.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not about to make a move on you or anything. Just I heard your conversation with Captain Greatcoat yesterday morning, and I peeked out the window and decided you were hot, and tossed it in with your name. I understand that you recently lost your girlfriend, and I'm not really in a place to be in a relationship with anyone. You're officially my best friend, and therefore off-limits anyway," Evie told him with a grin, "Come on, you have a car right? Give me a ride home?"

_**XX**_

After the first two weeks where she was getting the hang of the fast-paced life at Torchwood, Evie settled into things nicely. Tosh taught her the computer system, and Evie took over some of the filing bits, that had swamped Tosh since she started at Torchwood three years ago. Ianto took over most of the rest of the paperwork, and spent his free time fixing up the archives, which had been a mess for ages.

Evie, Tosh, and Suzie worked together with any new pieces of alien tech. Tosh typically ran her software to see if anything matched, when it didn't Suzie got to try to use it, and if she couldn't figure it out Evie got her turn at it. Then one of them would take it apart and try to figure it out. Because there were three of them at that point, they could go back to some of the things that had never been figured out by Torchwood, some of them from as early as the 1800s. It was then that Ianto got brought in to find any information they already had filed for the artifact, to help the ladies figure it out.

Before anyone realized Ianto and Evie had been at Torchwood almost a year. They had all gotten comfortable with themselves, and with the place in general. Although Evie now liked Jack better (enough to call him Jack instead of Cpt. Harkness to his face, although he was still Captain Greatcoat behind his back as often as not), she still went out of her way to annoy him. Sometimes she would add something to his coffee (without Ianto noticing), or sometimes she would pass on his orders incorrectly (only when it was something minor), but her favorite was hanging on him every time he had to deal with any woman not already part of Torchwood. That last one drove him insane. He complained frequently that she was depriving him of being a normal man. But she just told him to shut it, he was the leader of Torchwood after all, he didn't have time to be a normal man (never mind that he had tons of time to kill now that he had two new employees).

That was when they went on a normal tech retrieval and picked up a metal gauntlet, like the kind from old plate armor. Tosh ran her programs and theorized that it might be used to bring the dead back to life. So despite Evie's argument Jack had them pull someone out of the morgue. Only Suzie could make the glove work, and so they tried on a couple of corpses. Then Suzie said that she needed fresh corpses, because 'maybe it would be easier with someone who has just died.' Again Evie tried to talk them out of it. But again dumb-ass Jack said go ahead, and they started monitoring police reports for dead people.

Evie insisted on coming along every time, because despite her rough start with training, she was better with a gun than Tosh, and she had some hand-to-hand training, and she was a good enough technician to take all the scans they needed and keep the time (although Ianto usually liked to use the timer, silly man). For all that they had worked together a year, Suzie had never warmed to her, and from what she could see she was cold to Tosh and Owen both, and for that Evie had to suspect when she would leave work for a few hours in the middle of the day, and a few hours later they were off to find a corpse. Evie didn't really think that Suzie had killed a man, but she might have paid someone else to do it.

It was raining and a generally gross night that time, but Suzie insisted, because she was sure that she could get something from it, because it was really fresh. Basically Evie was _not_ happy to be pulled out into the rain just as she was about to go home for the night. Jack had actually ordered Tosh to go, but she had such a pleading sad look on her face that Evie said she would, even though she had to stay late the night before Weevil hunting.

As they got to the scene the police were all backing out of the space, and leaving everything for them. How Jack had gotten that much pull in Cardiff was a complete mystery. And it was ridiculous, who ever heard of an old captain being able to kick the cops out of a crime scene, so that he could let one of his techs resurrect the dead body. Yeah, no one.

As the rest of us all got ready to resurrect the poor guy Jack had one of his moments looking up into the dwindling rain.

"There you go. I can taste it. Estrogen. Definitely estrogen. You take the Pill, flush it away, it enters the water cycle, feminizes the fish it goes all the way up into the sky, and then falls all the way back down on to me. Contraceptives in the rain. Love this planet. Still, at least I won't get pregnant. Never doing that again," Evie shook her head at the Captain. As much as she was coming to care for the idiot, he was just too strange. So what if he was a time-traveler, he was still a man, and there was no way in hell he had ever been pregnant. But he continued, "How's it going?"

"Nothing yet. It's got to connect, I've just got to feel it," Suzie said as Evie quietly hoped it would never connect. Owen seemed to be of a different mind as he leaned in closer.

"Then hurry up and feel it! I'm freezing my arse off here," Owen complained. Owen was frequently complaining. Drunk and grumpy, that was Owen.

"I can't just flick a switch, it's more like access. It grants me access," Suzie saying that was like hearing a hardcore evolutionist talk about god making the Earth. It was just weird.

"Whatever that means," Owen kind of agreed with Evie's thoughts on the matter.

"It's like ..." Suzie seemed to be fishing for something before the glove on her hand moved, clicking a bit, "Oh, oh, oh!" Suzie's exclamation was followed by the palm of the glove glowing around the body.

"Positions," Jack said suddenly being part of the world around him. Evie got the scanner out and started measuring the levels of energy and radiation around the glove and what Suzie was doing with it.

"If I get punched again, I'm punching it right back," Owen said getting into his position. Evie laughed, it had been funny when the corpse went and punched Owen.

"Just, concentrate. Suzie?" Jack said trying to keep the rest of the team on track. But try was the operative word, since Evie joined the whole group listened only when they knew it could be life or death, or if Evie herself was listening. Jack didn't seem to appreciate the new attitude.

Suzie grabbed the man's head in the gloved hand and cradled it with more care then she had ever shown any of their ragtag band. The glow got brighter and all of them knew what came next.

The man gasped for breath jerking in Suzie's grip. The dead man looked around at them before her started showing how much he was really freaking out.

"There was ... What was? I was ... Oh, my God, I was going home," The man said panicky and quick looking around at the Torchwood team. Evie was in the best position, so she was the one who had to talk to him.

"Hey, hey. We've only two minutes, so I need you to listen to us okay? You've got to listen," Evie told him, trying to be gentle with him. After all, he was recently deceased.

"Who are you?" The man asked, but Jack had already said it was probably best to deal with this one firmly, but calmly. The last couple hadn't been very good.

"You're dead, you'll have to trust me on this one. Don't freak out on me though," Evie told him completely ignoring his actual question.

"How am I dead?" The man asked taking this slightly better than they had expected, but not as well as they had hoped.

"You were stabbed," Owen told him slightly harsher then Evie liked, so he got a glare, which he ignored completely.

"I'm not dead, I can see you," Evie decided this would be a good time to separate the two men.

"We've brought you back but we haven't got long, you've got to concentrate, who did this to you? What did you see?" Evie asked slightly abruptly, but much more gently than she knew Owen or Jack would have been, and it would just be awkward for Suzie to try and talk to the guy, so Evie was in charge for the moment at least.

"Why am I dead?" Yeah, this guy's a little dense.

"Who attacked you?" Evie asked a little more forcefully.

"I don't want to be dead," The man complained making Evie want to roll her eyes, but she resisted, it would horribly rude seeing as the poor guy just died.

"Sixty seconds," Suzie cut in.

"You've got to think, just focus. What was the last thing you saw?" Evie tried again still forceful. Tosh probably would have been a better choice after all. Damn.

Jack standing in the back made a long suffering sigh, which Evie just looked at him for. He was in trouble and he knew it. One would wonder how all the power somehow ended up in Evie's hands, but it was just too big a mystery. No one even wanted to try at this point.

"I didn't see any ... I don't know," The man replied finally seeming to focus on what Evie was asking of him.

"Who killed you, did you see them? Do you know them?" Evie asked remembering someone once saying that most of the time people who are attacked know their attackers. Or maybe that only counted to sexual attacks. Who knows?

"I don't know. There was ... something behind me," The man answered bringing a feeling of disappointment in Evie's belly. She didn't like that they were doing this, but at least if the man had named his attacker they could have passed it on to the police and something good could have come from this whole horror picture show.

"Police said one stab wound in the back," Owen added as if that was helpful. Of course if he had told Evie that earlier she would have spent less time trying to make the poor man tell her about an attacker he couldn't have seen.

"You didn't see anything then?" Evie asked just to make sure he hadn't seen something before or after he was stabbed.

"No," He said making Evie feel helpless. She looked up at Jack passing the reins back to him now that she had done her piece. Evie could see out of the corner of her eyes as Suzie looked up at Jack too.

"What happens now?" The man asked looking up at them for help. Stupid Suzie had to butt in right then with depressing news too.

"Thirty seconds,"

"He didn't see anyone," Evie said looking back at Suzie. There wasn't anything they could do now.

"Don't waste it," Suzie said with a mild glare for Evie. Maybe they didn't get along because in all truth Suzie should be second-in-command not Evie. But Evie had come in and just sort of took over.

"What do I say?" Evie asked looking back the Jack. What do you say to a guy who has just been stabbed who god knows what reason in a dark alley before being resurrected by a bunch of rather insane seeming people.

Jack kneeled down so he was closer to the man's eye-level and asked the first question that should have come out of Evie's mouth, "What's your name?"

"John. John Tucker," The young man replied seeming to trust Jack far more than he trusted Evie. And somehow Evie couldn't blame him. Jack was just sort of easy to trust.

"Okay, John. Not long now," Jack told him. Maybe jack should have been the one doing the interrogation after all, seemed like he was pretty good at this.

"Who are you?" John asked. That was something Evie should have told him too. Damn, stupid Captain Greatcoat, had wait till the last moment to make the rest of them all look stupid. Or insensitive. Pig.

"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack replied, "Tell me ... what was it like when you died? What did you see?" John looked confused at the question so Jack asked again, "John. Tell me what you saw."

"Ten seconds," Suzie cut in

"Nothing. I saw nothing. Oh, my God. There's nothing," Evie couldn't help but shudder at that thought. Nothing after death? Evie poor brother, and her Mam, in the darkness and nothingness for the rest of eternity? As Evie thought about that John died and the lights dimmed out.

"Shit. I said it was stupid, telling him he was dead," Owen complained looking uncomfortable with the idea of nothingness after death. Even after a year with Mr. Drunk and Grumpy Evie still knew next to nothing about him. She knew her own story, and Ianto's and little bits of Tosh's but nothing about Owen, Suzie, or the Captain. But they all seemed to have a sob story, and Evie couldn't help but wonder what Owen's was.

"Well, you try it," Evie said acidly to forestall Jack's knowing look. He always seemed to know what was going on in her mind. Evie stood wishing it wasn't raining, she just wanted to go home now.

"'Trust me,' like that's gonna work," Owen complained getting to his feet.

"Told the last corpse he was injured, he wasted the whole two minutes screaming for an ambulance," Jack reminded them. Evie had remembered, that's why she had told him he was dead this time. But she let Jack have his moment, he was the leader after all, "Maybe there's no right way of doing it," Jack added before looking up for some reason, "What do you think?" He asked.

Evie looked up just in time to see a head of dark hair running away from the edge of the carpark, "How long were they there?" Evie demanded.

"The whole time I think, I didn't notice them for awhile. I think it was a woman. One of the police maybe," Jack said with a shrug, "We'll check the CCTV when we get back to the hub."

"Can't you just drop me off at my house on the way back to the hub. It's raining and it's not like I have a car," Evie requested as they all started back for the SUV.

"Yeah, I guess we can. If Tosh is still in I'll have her run the search. If not, I suppose I can do it myself," Jack said acting like it would put him out so much. Every person working at Torchwood knew how the access the CCTV footage, and Jack had been doing it longer than even Suzie had been working there; it wasn't going to kill him to find one person when he already knew the place and time.

"Oh, you poor thing," Evie said in her best patronizing tone, "It's not like you have to go to the hub, then home. You live in the damn hub. You leave to go hunt things down, and that's it. You order takeout to the tourist office and go get drunk. You live in your work, it can't be healthy."

"Of course, mother," Jack said as they reached the SUV.

"Oh, shut up," Evie said climbing in. Jack was such a pain sometimes.

_**XX**_

The next morning when Evie came into work it was to find Jack going through files at her computer.

"Why can you never use your own computer. You've got one up in your office, but you insist on mine," Evie complained setting her jacket and purse down next to her station. Ianto came by a moment later with a mug of tea. She was the only one in the hub who hadn't fallen under the spell of Ianto's magical coffee, it was better than other coffee, but she wasn't a coffee drinker, "Thanks Ianto."

"No problem. I used the berry kind today, so here's some sugar. You can never decided how much is good with that," Ianto complained handing her a little bowl of sugar cubes.

"You're an angel you know that Ianto?" Evie said kissing his cheek, "Up you get Jack Harkness. Tosh is coming in late today, and I need to run a scan of activity last night."

"Fine," Jack said getting up, "Ianto, can you feed Janet, she was really restless all night."

"Of course, sir," Ianto said before making his way down to the cells. Evie shook her head at him. He was the only one who ever wore a suit, or called Jack sir. As much as she loved Ianto and how much an angel he was, he really was a closed off fellow.

Evie ran her searches only to find rift activity over near the hospital. She tracked the area with the CCTV and saw a Weevil. Those stupid things show up everywhere and while they usually would be happy in the sewers a few of them would go running through the city. That was where everyone got their exercise; chasing Weevils through Cardiff. And people think nothing happens in Cardiff?

"Jack!" Evie called up to him, he didn't reply so she put on her headset, "Jack, we've got a Weevil on the loose by the hospital."

"Okay, gear up and call Owen and Suzie in early, tell them to meet us there," Jack ordered over the comms, "Tell Ianto where we're going."

"Ianto, we're off Weevil hunting, you're in charge of the hub while we're gone. Tosh will be in in about an hour, tell her what's up," Evie relayed. She waited for Ianto's reply before running up to ground level, and the garage with the SUV. She called Owen (who lived right by the hospital), and Suzie, who lived five minutes from the hospital before climbing into the dark car.

"Off we go then," Jack said far too cheerfully.

"You know, I'm not exactly dressed for weevil hunting," Evie complained.

"Nowadays, you never are," Jack rebutted commenting on the fact that most of her first paycheck had gone to buying new stylish clothes again. Today's outfit happened to be tweed dress pants, a pink blouse, and a fitted tweed jacket to match the pants.

"I still have the old crap clothes, I just wear them except when I have Weevil duty," Evie argued with her boss as he drove far too recklessly, but less recklessly than Evie would have. Evie had been allowed to drive once, and after that she was forbidden from ever sitting in the driver's seat of the SUV again; she had scared even Jack with a few of her maneuvers.

"You're always on Weevil duty. If there's a Weevil you're out with me and Suzie, and Owen trying to catch the thing. Therefore, jeans and tee-shirts work," Jack told her calmly.

"Yeah, except I'm not going back there. You know full well that more than half my motivation for agreeing to come work for you was for the money, because I realized that my crappy little apartment didn't look or feel like me. I needed to paint the walls, and get new furniture, and frames for pictures, and fill my closet with cute clothes. But most of all, I needed to fill rooms with books. Any place I live just isn't right without lots of books," Evie told him with a look that said he should already know all this and just learn to ignore her complaining already.

"Yeah I caught that when you snuck a bunch of books into the hub," Jack said with a chuckle, "You don't even live there but you had to bring the books in."

"I spend most my time in the hub don't I? I get to work around five in the morning, and most evenings I don't get home till at least nine. It's no wonder the pay's so good. You have to pay us overtime for every day," Evie laughed as she announced the last part. It was true, but a slight exaggeration. On slow days she was home by five in the evening, and she got two days off a week (barring potential world-ending catastrophes).

"I suppose. The idea was to get greedy geniuses like you to join," Jack told her with a smirk.

"Just because I needed money at the time, it doesn't mean that I'm greedy. Genius however I will take," Evie told him with a smirk of her own.

"That didn't used to be true," Jack commented.

"I've grown up. So what, I don't exist. But I'm right here, I even see Sarah-Jane sometimes when I've got a couple days in a row. I've got a great friend in Ianto, and a ridiculous little boy to take care of in you. Why are you always so serious around the others? The moment one of them walks in the room all the playfulness is gone," Evie asked checking her weevil catching kit. Two guns, check, five extra magazines (hidden in various places upon her person), four cans of weevil spray (also hidden upon her person), and a little sewing kit for quick stitches, although she really preferred to leave them to Owen.

Before Jack could come up with an excuse they had arrived at the hospital. He might have times it to be just so. Evie certainly wouldn't put it past him.

It was one of the top floors that the weevil had somehow gotten to, so they had it all closed off. Weevils, while vicious, were not very bright. So if you closed off the hall with plastic sheets they wouldn't even try to get through.

"Jack, shouldn't you tell someone that we're here and taking care of things? Get things properly evacuated. I'll look for the dumb thing up here, and wait it out for—well never mind waiting, there's Owen and Suzie now," Evie said looking behind Jack, "Alright Jack off you go to be the face of Torchwood Three."

Jack went back down the stairs to find someone in charge while the other three prowled the floor getting people out and warning people off as they were looking for the weevil. So far they hadn't heard any screaming, which was very odd. Weevils usually provoked screaming.

After close to an hour of this, and still no weevil Evie called Jack on the comms, "I'm sure the weevil's up here somewhere because there would be screaming had it left this floor, could you come help us. They tend to attack you."

"You're so kind. I'm on my way up now," Jack replied.

"Come on, Jack's on his way. Maybe we'll find the dumb thing before he can pull our asses out of the fire," Evie said as the three Torchwood operatives went trekking back through the floor checking all the rooms to find the Weevil.

Evie heard a door slam somewhere. "Either it's Jack come to join us, or that's our Weevil, either way, it's that way." Evie said the last pointing down a corridor to their right.

"Of course oh wise second-in-command," Owen muttered sounding annoyed as they made their way towards the sound.

"You went out drinking after the mission last night didn't you?" Evie asked noticing the bad attitude that was hung-over Owen who had to get up an hour earlier than normal.

"He's Owen," Suzie said as though that explained everything. Which it did mostly, Evie just didn't like to admit it.

Just then there was a scream, or maybe it was more of a strangled yell, either way it was a sure-fire way of finding the dumb weevil. So they all went running in and came in earshot in time to hear Jack ordering someone "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" Evie and co. came springing out spraying the weevil with their cans of weevil replelant.

The Weevil reacted just as it should have, dropping the body of the man it had been holding. Suzie and Owen made grabs for it as Evie ran a continuous spray.

"Get it down! Get it down! Cuff it already damn it!" Evie cried struggling to keep the spray right where the weevil couldn't stand it.

"Down on the floor," Owen said changing the angle of his spray. As the dumb chick that had been there finally left Owen got some cuff on it, and Suzie slipped a black bag over its head.

"Who the hell was the chick?" Evie asked angrily as they escorted the weevil out of the hospital.

"Police Corporal Gwen Cooper. She's the one who saw us last night," Jack answered as they exited the building.

"Well we gonna retcon her then?" Evie asked helping shove the weevil in the back of the SUV.

"Not yet, I want to see what she does," Jack said starting the car with an obvious rev of the engines. Evie rolled her eyes as she got in the front seat. As soon as Owen and Suzie were in the car he squealed off far faster and louder than he needed to.

"If you're going to drive like this you should have just let Evie drive, it would be just as safe," Owen muttered angrily in the backseat. He didn't like Jack's driving, he thought it was dangerous and a trip to the hospital waiting to happen, as he had said many times before. It had been long enough since Evie was allowed to drive that he had probably forgotten just how much worse she was than Jack.

"Yeah, but it did what he was aiming for," Evie commented, "Look, police car following us, only the driver, dark hair; can't make out anymore from here, but it sure sounds like PC Cooper to me."

"Okay, but Jack you can slow down now," Owen said leaning forward to try and see the speedometer; Evie moved so he couldn't, it would do to scare poor Owen. They were going almost forty over the limit after all.

"Where's the fun in that?" Jack asked cheerfully.

"You realize it's a _police_ car following us right?" Owen asked at Jack's affirmative he continued, "We've got to be going well over the limit, thank you Evie for trying to protect me, she will write us a ticket and have real reason to look into us."

"Damn, he has a point. Back to snail speed," Evie said sinking back in her seat. Evie had categorized people's driving by their speed. Jack went at Rabbit speed, definitely acceptable, Owen was Dying Snail, Tosh was Snail, and Suzie was Turtle (faster than a snail, but can't quite beat a rabbit). Evie liked to call herself Cheetah speed, but that was just an affectation, racecar drivers went at Cheetah, she only hit Greyhound really, but it was enough that the last speeding ticket a police car had managed to catch up to her to give her had been big enough that her Mam took away her car for a full year. It hadn't been that bad really. It had only been sixty over the limit, it was only that bad because it was in a road work zone.

"Poor Evie. No idea what you would have done if you got stuck in the past," Jack said shaking his head as he brought himself back to just above the limit.

"Steal alien tech of course," Evie answered without a pause, "Want me to call into Tosh?"

"Yes, please. Tell Tosh and Ianto we're coming in with a new Weevil friend for Janet," Jack requested before Evie hit her comms to call in.

"Tosh?" Tosh could always be relied on to have her comms on during work hours.

"Yes, Evie?" Tosh replied pleasantly, "Ianto told me you got sent out Weevil hunting in a nice blouse again, do you need me to pick up another for you?"

"No, I'm relatively clean this time. No I just needed you and Ianto to get a cell ready for a new Weevil. Tell Ianto this one's here to stay, so he can name him," Evie told her, "Acctually after you do that could you get me my spare outfit. There's something strange on my pant leg and I'd like to not be wearing them anymore."

"Can do, I'll see you in a few minutes," Tosh replied laughing at her friend's antics.

When they reached the Millennium Center Jack paused to let the other three and the weevil out, because he was going to have to go the long way round. They could hear PC Cooper drive up, and call out to them, but they just kept going for the invisible lift, and went down, pretending they didn't notice the pretty woman at all.

_**XX**_

It rained later, PC Cooper must have left then, she certainly wasn't out in the rain after all. But as soon as the rain stopped she was out in front of the tower with her partner who looked annoyed and worried at the very least. They were there for a while before the partner managed to get her away from the Plass.

After she left everything went back to normal. Suzie was practically obsessing over this knife they had found a few days before, which was made of the same metal as the Resurrection Gauntlet, Tosh was updating her Rift Predictor, which was pretty good, despite the fact it was only right about seventy percent of the time. It was better than the old one she had tossed in the bin after a week. That one had apparently only been correct about thirty percent of the time. Evie spent her time with Ianto redoing some old files which had been badly kept and had managed to become half mildewed in the last fifty years or so. Owen was occupied with some kind of game on his computer, and Jack had locked himself in his office.

Hours later as Evie was about to get ready to go home Jack called her up to watch the CCTV with him. CP Cooper had returned, and was staring at the tower again. She was there for hours as it started to get dark, till she finally left. Jack followed her with the CCTV, and didn't let anyone leave yet.

When they saw her coming out of the Pizza shop where they frequently got pizza carrying pizza only Jack seemed to think she would actually make it all the way to the hub. But she went to the tourist shop, and on orders Ianto let her in.

So Jack's brilliant plan involved all of them acting like big scaring people working really hard at their desks. They were all a bit skeptical, but none so much as Evie. She tried to play conscience, but it was just a little joke, and no one listened to her.

So as Gwen enters they all act like they don't notice her there. Suzie was welding something (Evie really didn't want to know what, she had been obsessed with the glove and the knife lately), Tosh was pretending to work on her computer, Evie could tell she wasn't actually working, it was faux screen that Evie had created one slow day right after she started work. It looked and behaved like the Torchwood screens, but none of it was actual classified information. Evie and Owen both had their own versions of one. Tosh's had programming text, while Owen's had some medical readings, and Evie's had diagrams that only Tosh of figuring out how it was false. It was actually a variant of the theory she had been working on for her thesis for her Masters, there were nine numbers which Evie knew were incorrect, and at least three others had to be incorrect, because Evie couldn't make it work. It was an elementary time and space manipulator. Which, while it was elementary, it was also the closest anyone had gotten to time-travel in the history of mankind.

As Gwen made her way past Tosh and Evie's computers Tosh suddenly started laughing. Tosh's laugher made Owen start up, and he made an ungainly snort. Which was followed by peals of giggles for Tosh. Evie just smiled and rolled her eyes.

"I can't do this, I'm sorry. I'm rubbish. I give up!" Owen declared turning around so he could see Jack. Then he started laughing harder than he had been earlier.

"He set me off," Tosh declared pointing past Evie to Owen.

"Well, that lasted no' point two seconds," Suzie said leaning back in her chair. Evie felt bad for CP Cooper, she really did look confused by the insanity of Owen and Tosh.

"Hmm. She's actually carrying pizza!" Owen declared, as though that hadn't been obvious when they caught her leaving the pizza shop with them. Evie roll her eyes again.

"Come on! She was gonna say, 'Here's your pizza,' and I was going to say, 'How much?'" Jack said sounding so monumentally disappointed by the fact he couldn't have his bit. Evie got up to try and keep him under control. It was bad when you had to keep your boss under control, but he wasn't done yet, "and she says, 'Oh, whatever, twenty quid,' and I say, 'Oh, I don't have any money.' I was working on a punchline. I'd have got there. But it would've been good!"

"There's your pizza. I'd better go," PC Cooper said looking highly uncomfortable, but just as Evie was about to step in Jack said just what he was supposed to. Sometimes Evie was just superfluous.

"We've gone past that stage," Jack told her calmly.

"How the hell did you last out there for three hours before coming up with the pizza scheme? It's freezing out there. I'm certainly not looking forward to the walk home," Evie popped up giving Jack a look that was best translated as 'please give me a ride home, walking is soooooo slow.'

"You could see me?" PC Cooper asked sounding very surprised by that idea.

"Yeah," Evie admitted with a grin and a nod.

"And before we go any further, who the hell orders pizza under the name of Torchwood?" jack asked looking at his team. Evie held up her hands to show her innocence, while Tosh and Suzie just looked at him.

"Uh, yeah. That would be me. I'm sorry. I'm a twat," Owen admitted earning himself a glare from Evie. But before she could ream him a new one PC Cooper said something.

"That man, at the hospital, that porter, what happened to him? That was real, wasn't it? He was attacked," She asked seriously looking between the group. The only one with true remorse in their expressions was Evie.

"He's dead," Jack told her. At least he was being serious now.

"But there's no-one gone missing," She argued as though she were trying to refute what she already knew to be true. Which she probably was.

"We took the body, retrospectively changed the work rota, planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alibi for the next 48 hours, so when his body's pulled out of the docks next Tuesday night, he's only been missing for three days," Tosh sounded so cold, now this Corporal was going to have this horrible image of who they were in her head. They weren't bad people. Just broken ones.

"He was murdered?" the Corporal asked sounding a little confused. Evie couldn't help but hope that Jack hadn't found them a dense one. They could certainly use another person in the field, but they didn't need one that couldn't follow basic orders.

"Yes," Tosh said simply. It was a fact after all.

"And you covered it up?" Cooper was just a little dense after all. Evie shot the Captain a look, but he wasn't looking at her.

"That's my job," _Oh Tosh, now she'll think you cold_ Evie thought worrying over her dear friend.

"And that other man, John Tucker? Last night in the alleyway, I saw you," Cooper turned back to Jack with this. Maybe she's not as dense as Evie first thought, just checking her facts and trying to deal with how cold the people here could be to death. But Jack had to play a game with her. Damn him.

"And what did you see?" Jack asked leading into something.

"You revived him," was the answer

"No. What did you see?"

"You resuscitated him,"

"No, what did you see?"

"You brought him back to life,"

"Yeah," Cooper had apparently gotten where Jack wanted her. Evie watched wondering if her own introduction had seemed something like this to the others. But no, she hadn't been in quite the same situation. She had been flippant, then she had broken down the broken doll she knew she was. She had long since resolved herself, it was easier when you worked with five other broken people.

"Who are you?" Cooper asked. But She wasn't asking for their names, no, she was asking for who they were as a group.

"Torchwood," Was Jack's simple reply. As though anyone _really_ knew what Torchwood was. Maybe U.N.I.T. or the Queen.

"What's Torchwood?" Cooper asked

"This is Torchwood. All around you," Evie was slightly touched that he was gesturing to his team, and not the hub, although both could be called Torchwood really.

"And what happens to me?" The corporal asked.

"Ooo," Jack breathed out, he didn't want to answer but his team knew there were two options. If it looked like she would be a good addition to the team she would join Torchwood, if not, she would be retconned and she wouldn't remember.

"I'm police. Constable Gwen Cooper. You can't do anything," Cooper said it like she was clutching a shield to her chest. But Torchwood was above the law, they only answered to the Queen herself.

"Right then, PC Cooper ... d'you want to come see?" Even Evie had to think for a moment to realize what it was Jack wanted her to see. It would be a good test to see how she deals with a Weevil face to face.

"See what?" Cooper obviously wouldn't know. Evie felt a little bad, because she had come into Torchwood because she looked at an alien holding a gun to her head and said it's be a bad idea to kill the barkeep.

"You saw the murder. Come and see the murderer," He made a little gesture with his head towards the path down to the holding cells. After his statement he headed off without looking to see if Cooper would follow.

"Go, you live in Cardiff, you'll see something someday anyway. Might as well be today," Evie told her gesturing for her to follow Jack. She set down the pizza boxes and starts to follow him out before Mfanwy (Somehow they let Ianto name the Pterodactyl and he is a true Welsh boy) let out a screech.

Cooper stopped in her tracks and ducked. Suzie walked right past her out of the room. Probably going to ask Ianto for coffee, it always went over better face to face.

"What was that?" Cooper asked sounding panicked.

"Pterodactyl," Tosh called over to her before closing out the faux screen and opening up her actual work.

"Are you coming?" Jack called from down the hall. Evie laughed after Cooper had hurried out. It really was a bit comical how she reacted to everything.

"So, anyone want to volunteer taxi service for me?" Evie asked with a grin. Owen flatly refused, and Tosh refused politely (it was out of her way to take Evie home). "Walking home again it is. One of these days I'm going to be attacked by Weevils and you're all going to feel very bad."

"I'll feel the worst of course," Ianto said coming down with a tray in hand. Suzie had apparently been successful, "Unfortunately I have a feeling I'm going to be working late tonight."

"Since when don't we _all_ work late at Torchwood?" Evie asked with a grin picking up the alien gadget that was on her desk that day, "Any nibbles? Jeez I sound stupid, but I'm hungry."

"Why don't you eat the pizza," Owen asked taking his coffee from Ianto.

"Because I don't like pizza very much, or at all really," Evie said reminding him of something he had known for months now, ever since he ordered pizza for everyone two whole weeks straight and started bringing a lunch because she couldn't stomach that much pizza.

"Yes, I have some biscuits for you," Ianto said giving her a mug of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"Thank God, I must have done something amazing in my past life. Maybe I was a saint? Only reason why we'd have an angel like you hanging about," Evie said planting a kiss of Ianto's cheek. He knew how after nine she always had to eat something, or go to bed. Which working for Torchwood usually meant eating something.

Just then Suzie came back down from the tourist office, and took her seat at her work station again. Ianto handed out the last three coffees, one left on Jack's desk for when he came back. They worked quietly for several minutes before they heard Jack and Cooper coming back. Owen immediately swung around to see them, everyone else reacted more slowly and sedately.

"Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper," Jack introduced, as re reached Owen (the closest to the doorway).

"'Doctor' Owen Harper, thank you," Owen responded semi-rudely. All Evie could think was_ Thank Gog he was only semi-rude._

"Toshiko Sato, computer genius. Suzie Costello, our technician, and this is Ianto Jones, Ianto cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time," Jack introduced making Evie roll her eyes. Ianto wasn't helping matters

"I try my best," Was Ianto's response. Evie was about to step in when Jack continued.

"And he looks good in a suit," Jack added with a grin. Evie glared at him and he made a face like he was about to backtrack when Ianto dug him in deeper.

"Careful, that's harassment, sir," Ianto said with a smirk that made it obvious that he knew that he was about to get reamed out by Evie.

"Jack Harkness, quit it. As second in command I can relieve you of duty if a majority vote of your team deems you unfit for duty. And as everyone listens to me except in life and death situations…Yeah, you'd out of a job that fast," Evie threatened before turning to Cooper with a mild smile, "Sorry about that. I'm Eveleen Smith, second-in-command and the only person who ever stands up to Jack's lunacy."

"She's my conscience," Jack added cheerfully. Evie gave him a glare to shut him up, he didn't take it this time. He knew when she was bluffing and when she wasn't. She was bluffing just then

"Why are you telling me their names? I'm not supposed to know, am I? This is classified, isn't it?" Cooper asked sounding concerned. In truth they had told her a lot more than just their names.

"Way beyond classified," Jack said with an amused little smile.

"Then you shouldn't be telling me. What are you gonna do to me?" Cooper asked looking really scared now. Dang, looks like she wasn't Torchwood material after all.

"What did you imagine?" Jack asked casually before retrieving his greatcoat (as if he would ever leave the hub without it).

"Well, I've seen too much. Your names and everything, and the Weevil, and," She turned to look at Tosh here. As if she though Tosh was the one did the actual dumping, that was usually Jack and either Evie or Ianto, "You can dump a man in the water and lie about his death."

"Oh-kay! Tosh, finish that calibration tomorrow morning. Owen, first thing, get a hold of Chandler and Bell, cos I think they're lying. Ianto, if he needs back-up, then you'd better be on stand-by. Suzie, I know it's a pain in the ass, but I need the costing on the glove research, Evie try working with your thesis again, that could be a useful bit of tech if you could get it working," Jack said before turning back to Gwen, "and as for you, you're coming with me. This way."

Jack made a gesture with his head and his arm that she should follow him deeper into the hub (not far, just to the lift it looked like). Evie couldn't help feeling frustrated. She needed to go to bed, and Jack wanted her working on equations she hadn't been able to make work in the last three years? Yeah, she was skipping out and going home.

"I'm getting tired of following you," Cooper muttered just loud enough for all of them to hear her. Jack turned and stared at her for a moment.

"No you're not, and you never will," Jack said sounding completely serious. He was probably right. None of his team had gotten tired of him yet, not even Evie who he frustrated on a daily basis. Jack stepped up on the lift before adding, "Stand on here. C'mon, next to me." He helped her up gallantly, like the knight in shining armor he liked to pretend he was.

Tosh opened up the cog door making the lights flash. Tosh was the first one out with a quick "Good Night!" called back to everyone. Owen was out just a moment behind her with less eloquent, "Later!" Jack got Cooper situated on the lift as Evie and Suzie cleaned up their spaces in preparation of leaving soon. Ianto was going to work late, and he was cleaning up the coffee mugs from around the hub.

"Now, you came in through the front door. Let's take the scenic route," Jack said before starting the lift with his wrist band. When the lift started going Cooper got all clingy. Evie and Suzie madetheir way over near the lift to say goodbye. Suzie just waved, but Evie actually said something.

"Now I'm going to have to walk home you jerk!" Evie called up before grinning and waving up at them.

"So, wanna bet he's giving her the full speech, or retconning her?" Suzie asked after a moment.

"I'm betting he's doing both. He likes to hear himself speak," Evie answered still looking up at where the lift was just reaching the Plass, "Well, I'm off. I'm going to try to sleep before Jack calls me at some weird hour of the night to go Weevil hunting again."

"See you tomorrow," Suzie answered going back to her station.

Evie made her way up to the tourist office, "Sure you don't want to give me a ride home in the SUV?" Evie asked as she passed Ianto.

"Neither of us are supposed to drive the SUV remember? You'll get us a ticket for several thousand pounds, and I'm supposed to be in the hub till midnight. Maybe next time Evie," Ianto answered with a smile. Evie knew that was what he was going to say.

"Ah, well. Till tomorrow Ianto. And if you're here to midnight, You'd best get into work after me for a change in the morning," Evie said before leaving the office and making her way home.

_**XX**_

Evie went into work early the next morning and was happy to see no one about yet. That meant everyone else had gotten some sleep like they should. Evie got down to work nibbling on a croissant and drinking some tea in a paper cup.

It was nearly an hour later that Jack came groggily out of his office to get to work. It was a slow day. Turned out Jack had retconned Cooper, and Evie would still be in stuck on field work. She wasn't that upset, but it would have been nice to have someone who wasn't quite so broken, and had a normal life outside of Torchwood.

Near the end of the day Suzie was acting strange, but no one worried about it too much. They all left work at a decent hour. Evie even went out for drinks with Owen and Jack.

The next day was just as slow. Well, until Evie glanced at the CCTV and saw Suzie standing in front of the Tower on the Plass, and Cooper coming up to her.

"Jack!" Evie screamed forgetting about comms. Jack came bolting out of his office, "Take the lift and stop whatever the hell is going on up there!"

Jack took one look at Evie's screen before getting on the lift for the trip up.

Evie watched from the screen, as everything seemed to be in slow motion. Suzie had a gun, Suzie was pointing the gun at Cooper. But when Jack came up the gun swung over and Jack was dead.

"No! Shit, Dammit all!" Evie screamed before running through the cog door. If the perception filter didn't work on Suzie it wasn't going to do a lick of good to go that way. Ianto tried to ask what was going on when Evie streamed past him out of the Tourist Office, but she wasn't paying attention. She had a gun in her coat, but she wasn't planning on using it. Not really. Revenge wasn't worth losing another life. Especially not someone from Torchwood. It didn't matter if Evie and Suzie didn't get along, they had worked together for the last year, and they were almost friends. It didn't even matter that Evie had been suspecting that Suzie was up to something. She just wished Jack wasn't dead.

Evie reached them just in time to see Suzie shoot herself.

"Damnit," Evie muttered walking more slowly. When she reached Jack and Cooper Cooper had fallen to her knees and Jack was just looking down on her compassionately. When he heard Evie behind him he turned just in time to catch her hand on his cheek. Hard. There was a bright red handprint.

"Next time, tell me the damn big important stuff huh?" Evie said before helping Gwen up.

They spent the next couple of hours cleaning up. Ianto locked up the glove, and Tosh and Owen gave up the things they had stolen for their own use. Evie spent most of the time staring at Jack. He had died, and he had come back to life, and he was bloody well going to explain it to her.

_**XX**_

The next day Jack brought both Cooper and Evie up to his favorite rooftop, and they just stared out at the city for a while. Then Cooper spoke.

"Owen and Toshiko, you didn't tell them that you were shot in the head and survived" Was what Cooper said. Evie couldn't help but think about that. Why hadn't Jack ever told them?

"You didn't tell them either. Followed my lead. Keep doing that, and you might just get through this," Jack told her quite calmly. Evie was content to sit and not look over the side like the other two. Following Jack would probably keep Cooper alive, but probably not healthy in the mental health department.

"But she killed you," Cooper said blankly. Evie looked up at Jack

"How many times have you died? Those times when you would go off comms for a few minutes. Did you die every time?" Evie asked quietly. She knew Jack had heard her. He somehow always heard her.

"I can't die," jack said simply not looking at either of the two women.

"Okay," Cooper said in a tone of voice that said 'yeah I got that, no explain already.'

"But I can't. Something happened to me a while back. Long story and far away. But I was killed, and then I was brought back to life, and ever since then ... I can't die," Jack explained far more vaguely than Evie liked.

"Does this have anything to do with your supposed time-travel?" Evie asked, more loudly this time, intending this question to be answered.

"Yeah, I was time-traveling with two friends of mine. After I died that first time I never saw them again," Jack told answered leaning against the half-wall in front of him.

"But how?" Cooper asked ignoring the time-traveling bit for the time being.

"I don't know. One day, I'll find a doctor, the right sort of doctor, and maybe he can explain it. But until then ..." Jack trailed off meaningfully. Both women caught it. He didn't know, and he wasn't about to start theorizing.

"Nothing kills you?" Cooper asked as Evie leaned back closing her eyes. And she thought nothing would ever confuse her about Jack Harkness again.

"Well, it kind of freaks people out, so ... best if you don't say anything," Jack replied. Evie couldn't help muttering, "Or by you dying period, jerk."

"It doesn't matter anyway. You'll only wipe my memory again," Cooper lamented.

"He won't this time. He likes you. Plus you've already broken the retcon once, it could be dangerous to dose you again," Evie said looking over at Gwen.

"Torchwood's got a vacancy. Job going spare. Do you want it?" Jack offered. Much smoother than his offer of a job to Evie.

"But ... what do you need me for?" Cooper asked looking between her two companions.

"Cos maybe you were right. We could do more to help. What do you think? Do you want to join up?" Jack asked as Evie gave her an encouraging smile.

"Yeah," Cooper said before turning back out to the city, "I do. Yes."

"Never a boring day. A slow one maybe, boring, never," Evie commented ruining the moment quite effectively.

"I can imagine that. You catch aliens," Cooper said with a tone of wonder, "I don't think that could ever be boring."

"Weevil hunting is never boring, but it can be a bit gross. They feed on crap, they're never exactly clean. I spend way too much time weevil hunting for my wardrobe," Evie said with a grin, "Ooh, can I make Gwen go instead of me now?"

"No," jack told her with a shit-eating grin that made Evie want to punch him.

"Jerk!" Evie yelled before getting up, "I'd best get to work if I'm going to work out the relation of time and space in a format that can be manipulated to create a functioning time machine."

Cooper just stared after her as Evie made her way off the roof. Just before Evie was out of earshot she heard Cooper ask, "She was joking right?"

_**XX**_

_**So, I didn't intend for this chapter to be this long…But I got into episode one and I just kinda kept going with it.**_

_**The next chapter should be episode 2, but I might start it before then so that I can get a particular conversation between Gwen and Evie happen. Also, you may have noticed that the names used change. That's because (I hope you noticed) it's all from Evie's point of view. This story will continue to be from her point of view, and will eventually deviate more from the show.**_

_**Large swathes of this chapter are straight from the transcripts of the first episode. However, skipping bits will never be the best idea because Evie always has her own comments about the situation. Also, for this chapter I subbed in Evie for different characters in several places, however it WILL deviate more later. I just wanted the first episode to go about how it went in cannon, but I also wanted Evie to be there before Gwen…so this is how I did it.**_

_**Well, anyways, please give me a review to tell me what you think. I've decided I'm definitely following all the way through series one, and debating how to do the last two episodes or so to make everything fit well with my greater plot. **_


	3. Gwen's First Day

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is currently starting at episode 2, Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is somewhere unknown, it won't come up again for awhile.**_

_**XX**_

The next couple of days as Gwen got things settled at her old job were blissfully calm. There weren't even any rogue weevils to chase down for once. Evie spent her time doing exactly what she told Gwen she was going to do. Unfortunately she hadn't made much progress and was about ready to back up to square one and start over when the meteorite crashed the night before Gwen's first day.

Gwen got called in to help them out, because she was supposed to start soon anyway. So they had effectively crammed Jack, Owen, Gwen, Evie, and Tosh all into the SUV. Because it was Gwen's first job she got the front seat, and Evie got shoved in the back, which did not make her happy.

"Simple locating cleanup operation. Find that meteorite before anyone else gets their hands on it," Jack said in explanation mostly to Gwen. The others in the back all knew what they were about.

"Nice to see you Gwen," He added as an afterthought.

"Sorry, Hi Cooper sorry we had to pull you in tonight," Evie said as Tosh pulled out her equipment.

"Found it yet, Tosh?" Owen asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"You got enough kit?" Gwen asked sounding stunned.

"Just basic tracking and surveillance," Tosh said dismissively.

"Hmm?" Gwen made a slightly curious half inquiring noise.

"For finding the crash site, Cooper," Evie told her.

"Is that CRIMINT? That's the police system you shouldn't have this!" Gwen exclaimed after looking over at the computer readout in front of Tosh.

There was a moment of silence as everyone made looks about her apparent moral code.

"You might want to stop saying 'you' and start saying 'we'," Jack finally said.

They passed the rest of the ride in silence.

"We're about a hundred meters from the crash site," Was all Tosh said. But it was enough to get Jack to stop the car. They could all see the military and police getting out of trucks and guarding the meteorite.

"Shit. The amateurs got here first," Owen complained as they all filed out of the SUV.

"All, right, usual formation," Jack announced, most likely just to give Gwen a hard time. Evie could hear Gwen inquiring about the usual formation and Owen's ambiguous answer, but didn't bother with them. If Gwen was going to keep up, she was going to have to keep up.

They went through the police barrier without a problem, and headed behind the tent to get to the meteorite. Just as Evie was about to start unpacking she heard the commotion in the tent. Gwen had obviously gone in, not behind.

"…You're not with Torchwood and even if you were," One of the men was saying as Evie walked in.

"You'd be pissing off wouldn't you? Come on, Cooper. We've got work to do unlike these idiots," Evie said catching Gwen by the arm and nudging her to follow her out of the tent.

"Thanks for that," Gwen said as they made their way up to the crash site.

"Don't worry about it. But about the boys…Jack is going to flirt with everything on two legs, ignore him, and Owen…well when he's being a jerk just ask him if he's hung-over, it's usually enough to shut him up. Ignore them, they're going to be messing with you for a while, it's best if you don't rise to the bait," Evie advised her hoping to help with the next similar situation.

"Let's see what we came for," Jack announced as Owen started scanning the meteorite.

"bog standard space debris," Owen announced before looking at Gwen, "That's a technical term."

"Hung-over Owen?" Evie asked pulling out her own equipment and winking at Gwen.

"Take the scans and we can get out of here then," Jack ordered ignoring the, now, commonplace banter of his team. Jack started sorting through his kit and tossing things down to Owen. Owen and Tosh were taking samples of the outer shell as Owen pressed his stethoscope to the meteorite. He looked up at Gwen who was just standing there, and Evie who was scanning the edges of the crash site.

"Make yourself useful, sweetheart, and pass me the big chisel out of the toolbox," Owen said looking at Gwen now. Evie cut in though.

"Oh, I didn't know you felt that way Owen. I'm sorry but you're not my type. You're too Drunk and Grouchy," Evie said with a laugh gesturing for Gwen to pass him down the chisel.

"Catch!" She called before tossing the chisel down. Evie froze, never throw sharp objects, don't they teach people that in elementary school.

"Don't!" Owen cried a moment too late, and the chisel punctured the side of the meteorite.

"Shit," Evie and Owen said unison, they shared a quick glare as a purple gas escaped through the hole.

Jack tossed a gasmask down to Owen as he grabbed another for himself, and Evie grabbed one for herself and another for Gwen. Tosh got hers from her kit down near the meteorite. The gas stopped above the crash site for a moment, pulsating, before it zoomed off into the sky.

"Shit, shit, shit-ity, shit," Evie said tossing her gas mask into her kit, "Okay, rule one. While throwing things at annoying grouchy doctors may seem like a good idea (and it usually is), sharp objects are never thrown, just pass them over." Jack was glaring at Gwen as Evie said this making the poor girl look horrible uncomfortable.

"Finish the scans, see if we can't figure something out, then we need to get back to the hub," Jack ordered before getting Ianto on the comms to tell him what had happened.

_**XX**_

The whole way back to the hub, and after getting to the hub Gwen spent apologizing. After they got back everyone split to their places to get working on the alien gas.

"I'm so sorry," Gwen was still apologizing as they came into to ditch their equipment.

"Seriously, stop saying that," Jack requested (more like ordered really). Gwen followed him up to the level with everyone's stations.

"But I am! I mean, really, I mean really, really sorry. God, I can't believe it," Gwen said sounding ridiculously contrite about the whole thing.

"Didn't they teach you Health and Safety in the police?" Owen asked snarkily.

"You two chucked tools at each other, so I ..." Gwen said trying to explain herself. It did make sense, it just would have been nice had she used her brain a little before that.

"We didn't miss," Owen said grumpily.

"Hush it Dr. Snark," Evie growled at the doctor before tossing her coat over the back of her chair.

"I'll sort it. Whatever's happened, I'll deal with it," Gwen offered desperately. Evie gave her a little smile. The Gwen continued, "What d'you think has happened? I mean, it was just gas, wasn't it? That can't be too bad, can it?"

"Right, because gas never did anyone any harm," Owen tossed in snarkily. Unfortunately Evie couldn't do anything because Owen definitely had a point. Plus Jack was nodding.

"On the plus side, we've got good evidence, relatively undamaged," Jack said, probably trying to make Gwen feel better, as he opened up the box that held the rock sample they had taken.

"On the downside, there's an alien on the loose, we don't know where it is, why it's here or what it's going to do," Owen added nastily.

"Give her a goddamn break already Owen. As if you've never done anything stupid," Evie snapped at him before adding, "Remember I know exactly what you do when you're drunk. I used to serve your drinks if you remember."

"God, this has been the worst first day ever," Gwen groaned as Owen seemed to shut his mouth for good this time.

"We all make mistakes. Get over it. Now we find and recover whatever came out of there," Jack said to make Gwen feel better probably. From the back of the room Ianto cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"This might help. Nightclub death been phoned in to 999. Circumstances sound... a little unusual," Ianto said holding a clipboard in his hand. Gwen went running to see the thing to try and make amends for her mistake earlier. Ianto continued, "Might be connected."

They all got themselves back together to go visit the club in question. As everyone scrambled to put the right kits together Evie grabbed Gwen for a quick conversation.

"Don't worry, this could have been worse. If you want the truth I got recruited because I had a fit after a blowfish came running into the bar where I worked. Jack looked me up and decided little miss former physics prodigy would be a great idea. I got to be his conscience because I yelled at him for refusing Ianto a job when he was freely offering me one that I could just as easily refuse. Then I didn't have a clue how to even hold a gun…My first couple weeks of training were a mess. I was just lucky it was pretty slow then. I probably would have done the same thing, first day on the job," Evie told her to help her out a bit, "My first field assignment was a Weevil chase. I lost the Weevil spray and dropped my gun, thing almost gutted me. It was Janet too. She lives down in the holding cells now. I think we keep her around to remind me to keep up with my training. I've been here a year, and I'm still in training, physically at least. When I joined I'd only ever hit one guy, because he admitted to have been cheating on me with a bimbo from a bar just off campus."

"So…" Gwen said seemingly not quite sure where this conversation was supposed to be going.

"So, don't sweat it. We'll be joking about it in a couple of weeks and you'll wonder how you ever managed to make such a stupid little screw-up. Everyone else will forget by the time you've been here a month. But you'll remember and you'll never do it again," Evie told her with a shrug before stepping away to get her coat back.

"Thanks," Gwen said as Evie started to walk off.

"No big deal, come on, we have to catch up with that lot," Evie said nodding her head to where they were headed up to the SUV.

The ride was short, and uneventful. Owen was grumpy, but not snarky, and Ianto had sent coffee with them, which kept him quite anyway.

When they got to the club in question there was a police officer out front who looked vaguely familiar to Evie.

"Torchwood," Jack announced pushing past the man rather rudely. Owen and Tosh were right behind him, and Evie just behind them.

"Gwen?" The Police Corporal asked looking up as Gwen as she was about to make her way into the club.

"Hi!" Gwen said looking uncomfortable with the situation in general.

"Bloody hell! Look at you, all posh. Special Ops! We were wondering," The man said, which is what triggered Evie memory. This man had been Gwen's partner before she left the police.

"I meant to call. It's been a bit of a whirlwind," Gwen said shifting uncomfortably. Evie slipped into the building, but she heard the former-partner's next words.

"Go on, then, tell us all," he asked as Jack slipped back past Evie to look at the door where Gwen and the policeman where still standing.

"Coming?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, sorry," Gwen told Jack before turning back to the other man, "You can get away now. No point you freezing your arse off out here."

"Boss of me now, are you?" He asked sounding like he was only half joking. Gwen started back into the building before saying, "Uh, say hi to everyone for me."

"Come on then," Evie said leading Gwen back to the Ladies where everyone else had disappeared into.

Everyone was gathered around staring at a little pile of dirt. The Club Owner made a quick explanation that this little pile of the body, and they all spent a moment in silence just staring.

"This is all that's left?" Gwen asked incredulously. Evie was finding it a bit hard to believe, but after being with Torchwood a little while you get used to strange things. The club owner just nodded

"How's that possible?" The man asked looking highly uncomfortable with the situation.

"The question is how did you know this used to be a body?" Jack asked looking pointedly at the club's owner.

"There's a camera, up there," The owner said pointing towards the camera, "There were two people going at it, then they weren't and he was gone. Just dust. Bit of a shock, I tell you."

"We need to see that CCTV," Jack says seeming to understand what the man wasn't saying. Which Evie got too. He was saying he was spying because he was pretty sure they were going to get busy and he needed a good wank.

But the club owner just nodded and led them up to the security room. They watched the video for a moment. A girl and a young man were certainly going at it before the man seemed to finish up and burst into gold light, only to be absorbed into the woman.

"Wow," Jack was the first person to speak. Evie was not in the least bit surprised. The way he flirted he must have had a couple million different one night stands.

"Oh, my God! He just ..." Tosh exclaimed surprised.

"Came and went," Jack deadpanned accompanied by Owen snickering.

"That's the way I'd like to go," Owen said with a strange look on his face. He might have actually been serious, which is a bit horrible.

"I bet we could do that,' Evie said nastily, "Jack? Can we use Owen as bait to catch them?" Jack ignored her and looked to the club owner, who looked very upset by the whole situation.

"How can that be? It doesn't make any sense. It's not possible," the Owner protested looking at the group of them, making Evie feel kind of bad for joking with Owen at a time like this.

"Do you know the girl's name? (He shakes his head.) Did the two of them arrive together or meet in the club? Is she a regular? Would any of the other staff know her?" Gwen asked prying for information in a way which was neither subtle nor compassionate.

"I dunno! We get hundreds of people here every weekend. I don't keep tabs," The club owner said getting defensive. Evie gave the man a small and smile and touched his arm gently to tell him that they understood as Jack stepped forward.

"Thanks for your help. We've got all we need," Jack said politely to calm the man down. Gwen seemed to miss that because as Jack led the man out of the room Gwen burst out.

"What are you talking about? We haven't got a clue. We don't even know her name!" Gwen argued angrily. Jack just looked at her for a moment before turning and leaving the room.

"Gwen, leave it," Evie advised as Tosh and Owen followed Jack out of the room, "The Owner didn't know anything else, and even if he had, he wouldn't have wanted to admit it. A guy died in mysterious circumstances in the ladies room of his club. It really doesn't look good for him. We can probably find the girl without bothering him too much more. So that's what we're going to do."

They two women made their way out of the back room in time to catch Jack's speech on their next moves.

"We'll need a body from the cryo-chamber, close match to the dead guy's appearance. Disfigure the face, dump it someplace remote, make it look like a suicide attempt," Gwen looked horrified at the thought, but a look from Evie and she restrained herself from asking the boss. She was just going to drive Evie insane for the next several hours.

_**XX**_

Owen and Tosh went back to the hub in order to get moving with the cadaver, while Jack started scanning and Gwen made her questions known.

"Why are we faking his death? Doesn't his family have the right to know?" Gwen whispered urgently as Evie scanned some energy residues.

"No," Evie said simply before looking over at Gwen and realizing that wasn't going to cut it, "Look, two weeks ago is someone had told you that your boyfriend had been killed by an alien and all that was left was a pile of dirt would you have believed it? Look, my older brother got sucked through the rift, or something, and ended up in 1945. By the time I found out about it, he had been dead for years. He died in 1951. But he had four kids, and I've been in touch with his youngest daughter and her son since. But it took me ages to wrap my mind around it all, and my niece is just about twice my age. Had you told me before a blowfish held me a gunpoint that I had a niece twice my age I would have laughed at them. People don't believe strange things unless they've seen them. It's best to let them have a comfortable little story and a body to bury."

"Come on, I think the energy might be stronger outside," Jack called across the club to the two women, who obediently followed him out and followed the energy signals.

"Same stuff all over the club and at the crash site," Evie commented.

"Yeah, but it's stronger here. Something happened right here," Jack said before looking around for something that they could use. Evie and Gwen joined in, but it was Jack whose eyes fell on the CCTV camera first.

So the three of them trekked back into the club to watch the security footage. Sure enough purple alien gas had taken over a girl's body. Then Gwen had to go on a bloody guilt trip.

"It's all my fault. If it hadn't been for me he would still be alive," Gwen moaned mournfully. Evie turned to look her straight in the eyes.

"Remember rule one last night?" At Gwen's nod she continued, "Yeah, rule two at Torchwood. NO GUILT TRIPS, none, ever. See if we all took guilt trips we'd never get back to reality. So when we screw up, which we all do roughly bi-annually, Jack is more bi-monthly, we move on and deal with the pieces. No guilt trips." Evie stared at the older woman until she finally nodded.

"We can't let her kill again," Gwen said after a long moment of silence.

"Quiet true, off we go dear captain," Evie said standing up, "Come on Gwen. We won't get anything done sitting here looking over old footage. Now that we know what camera and time we'll be able to cross-reference it at the hub later."

Gwen just followed as the Captain and his conscience took off.

_**XX**_

Jack and Evie were using a tool to track the meteorite's trajectory, from before the crash. Try to figure out where it came from, what it was. Tosh was collaborating the data on her computer as Owen sat there, with nothing better to do than watch. Gwen was in a similar predicament, but she didn't know what they were doing.

"So, what's this supposed to do?" Gwen asked leaning against an open doorframe.

"I'm using satellite-tracking data to determine the inward trajectory of the meteorite," Jack answered smugly knowing that Evie and Tosh understood exactly what he meant, Owen probably knew the gist of it, and was torturing Gwen, because she was the new girl.

"We're trying to see with the dumb thing came from," Evie said with a look for Jack. Tosh was smiling, she was probably about to say something very similar.

"Hey! Sometimes techno babble is good for the soul," Jack protested.

"Yes, for us science nerds like me and Tosh. You however are never allowed to speak in technobabble," Evie informed him checking a different route on the clear board marked with planets and orbital paths that Jack had picked up somewhere years ago. He had probably stolen it from a ship somewhere in time.

"So this is a route planner," Gwen said to try and put the reality in images she understood better. Evie certainly didn't blame her for it, it was human nature after all.

"Not far off," Tosh admitted from behind Gwen.

"Rhys, my boyfriend, is a transport manager. He does this sort of stuff. On a slightly smaller scale, though," The last bit was said with a slightly rueful grin that said she knew just howmuch of an understatement that was.

"You have a boyfriend?" Tosh asked in clear surprise. This was a first. Someone coming to Torchwood without a broken heart of some kind. Certainly going to make life a little harder though.

"Yeah. Have you?" Gwen asked looking over her shoulder to where Tosh was working.

"Don't have time with this job," Tosh said with a smile that was obviously faked. Everyone at Torchwood knew she felt something for Owen. Well, except Owen of course. Ianto might have missed it, he didn't have to work right next to her as she watched Owen work every day.

"What about you two? You seeing anyone?" Gwen asked redirecting her question to Owen and Evie. Owen paused a moment, and Evie answered first.

"Not since I left university. Too much crap going on here. Plus, it would cut into my sleeping time. Nothing, not even alien invasion, is allowed to cut into my sleeping time," Evie answered with a grin. Of course it wasn't true. She hadn't got a lick of sleep last night because of a meteorite and a purple gas alien. She was running on sugar and tea, and some caffeinated gum Ianto had bought for her, because she didn't like coffee.

"You've gotta be joking. I can get all the grief I need here," Owen answered with a look that said he actually meant it. Evie was pretty sure his joining had something to do with a serious relationship, but she wasn't about to call a bluff when she was bluffing herself. Evie did notice how Jack had paused in his work for a moment to listen to the conversation. Evie gave him a nudge, it wouldn't do for the others to notice.

"None of you have partners?" Gwen asked in surprise. Was it really that surprising that a ragtag bunch of alien catching misfits didn't have any lasting romantic commitments? Maybe only when you don't put it that way.

"Just you, newbie," Owen said flicking through the papers he was holding just for show. He had nothing to do with this part of the operation.

"I'm not being rude or anything, but ..." Gwen's first words were a clear lead-in to something very rude. Good thing she realized it, "Well, maybe I am, but ... how do you switch off from all this stuff? What do you do to relax?"

Jack turned around to look at Owen who was looking at Tosh who was looking at Evie who was looking at Jack. The circle lasted for just a moment before Owen looked to his papers, Tosh to her computer.

"I torture people in happy relationships," Owen said in a casual tone. Evie knew he was only half joking.

"And I sleep. Every free moment I sleep and dream strange dreams," Evie answered with a grin, "Speaking of sleep…Jack?"

"No," Jack said going back to his board. He didn't even wait for Evie to ask.

"But I was up all night," Evie wheedled.

"No, you're so wired we won't get you up until you've been out at least twelve hours. I fell for it once right when you started. I'm not falling for it again," Jack said looking over at his second-in-command.

"Will you at least give me a ride home and let me come in late the next day when all this is over?" Evie asked with a sigh.

"No, but I'll let you borrow the second SUV," Jack acceded.

"Oooh, you are feeling guilty," Evie said with an evil grin.

"I'm going to regret this aren't I?" Jack asked before turning to Tosh, "Have we got the location?"

"Just a little more," Tosh replied. Jack sighed and went back to work while Evie popped another piece of gum in her mouth. It was going to be a long day.

_**XX**_

A little while later they had left the meteor tracing and where down in the lower area, with their desks. Tosh was running the face recognition software while right next to her Evie was going through the potential places the alien could have come from. They had narrowed it down to one small area of the galaxy, but truthfully, it was still a number of inhabited planets, and the alien might not have come originally from the planet the meteor originated from.

"Gas traces confirmed as Vorax and Suranium," Evie announced looking at her secondary screen where she had an analysis running.

"Great, my two favorite gases. Can we do a check, and find out what we know about them?" Jack said all sarcasm and cheer. But was there anything different in that? No, not really.

"I'm all over it," Owen announced turning to his computer to do some actual work. Right then Ianto (aka 'the Angel') came in with a tray of mugs. Jack took one seemingly at random, but of course it was the right one, with extra sugar, and no cream.

"What's this doing?" Gwen asked looking over Tosh's shoulder, and crowding the already crowded computer area. It made sense to have Tosh and Evie next to each other, especially back when Suzie had still been there with her own station, but it had never been a roomy fit.

"I've taken an image of the girl from the CCTV. This cross-checks her face with the UK population," Tosh explained sounding a little proud of herself. She should be. Before Tosh came around the system only had what was in criminal and military records. Tosh's brilliance had gotten them every face in the UK.

"You can't have every face in the UK on there. That would be against civil liberties, data protection, all that stuff ..." Gwen complained seemingly stunned by the idea that Torchwood breaks laws. That shouldn't surprise anyone who knows anything about them. Jack's recruitment speech (which Evie managed to skip because of how she railed against him) always talked about how they're 'above the government and beyond the police.' If that doesn't sound like breaking a few laws…what did?

"Still doing that "you" instead of "we" thing," Jack commented before taking a sip from his mug. Why Ianto had given him the dragonfly mug was a mystery. That one usually went to Tosh or Evie, it was little girly after all. But Evie had gotten the butterfly mug, and Tosh got the one with little blue circles.

Just then Tosh's computer finished with the ominous '119 MATCHES FOUND' on the screen in red. Evie leaned back in her seat rubbing her neck. That really stunk. Stupid picture quality.

"Ah. A hundred and nineteen suspects. This thing's supposed to give us a single match," Owen complained looking away from his computer, which was running its own analysis of the chemicals.

"The CCTV was too low res. I've tried magnifying and augmenting but it just breaks up. Which means that the software can't function properly," Tosh explained.

"It's narrowed the numbers down. I could check through the rest. You know, the old fashioned way - with my eyes," Ianto pointed to his eyes with the last bit. He was in a good mood today. God knows why Evie was ready to collapse even with all the caffeine they were pumping into her system, then again Evie had never been a stay-up-all-night-chasing-aliens kind of person before that stupid blowfish in the bar. But she wouldn't trade it for the world, not really.

"What about the fingerprints I took off the alley wall?" Gwen asked fishing for something. Evie had run it an hour ago, but it seemed no one noticed, because Tosh ran it again only to get 'NO MATCH FOUND,' which is what Evie got.

"It was a long-shot, anyway," Tosh said trying to make Gwen feel better. This just wasn't the ex-cop's day was it?

"Just a bit," Owen tossed in nastily.

"Least I'm trying to do something," Gwen tossed right back with same level of venom

"No, you're trying anything," Owen shot back. The glaring that came after was broken by a long sigh from Evie and a suggestion from Jack.

"The CCTV must have picked up her arrival at the club. Tosh, can you reformat the image recognition software to trace her journey backwards via the street camera network?" Jack asked the tech expert.

"It'll take a while to process. Every possible turn on every street corner means hundreds of thousands of probabilities," Tosh told him trying to get the reality through to him.

"I'll take a few of them Tosh. Give me the camera number to start from," Evie offered. Tosh gave her the number and Evie was in the network in seconds

"Have a go. At least we'll know where she started the evening," Jack told them sipping from his mug again. How he could drink that stuff was far beyond Evie's mind. Maybe the years had burned his taste buds away?

"We could cross reference that with the addresses on the remaining face matches," Gwen added making Evie smile. Now they were talking.

"Good one, newbie! That's a bit more like it!" Owen said happily as he started doing the search himself.

_**XX**_

It didn't take long before they had found their location and made their way there. They had decided to gear up in white jumpsuits and gasmasks, just to be safe. Who knew what kind of pollutants the alien gave off?

Unfortunately a mail carrier reached the house just as they did. Obviously they couldn't do anything with the mailman there, so they took positions to wait till he drove off. Of course, that didn't work.

The girl, Carys Fletcher, had pulled the hapless man into her house, and they were forced to intervene while he was still there. Jack, Evie, and Tosh came in through the front, while Gwen and Owen came in through the back. All five of them had their guns in hand, and they were focused of Carys the moment she was in their line of sight.

Evie couldn't help but feel bad for the mail man, because he had just been caught by five armed people, with his pants down, as a girl somewhere less than half his age sat on top of him, presumably naked under the house coat.

"What's going on?" He demanded sounding more scared than demanding, not that any of them (except maybe Owen, because he's Owen) blamed him.

"Put your trousers on and get out. NOW!" Jack ordered, well really he shouted. It wasn't really necessary, but he was Jack. He did all kinds of unnecessary things just for the sake of doing them. Plus the guy was half scared out of his wits, he wasn't going to move very fast…well at all really. He wasn't in the best shape to tell the truth. But the man bundled up his pants around his waist and hightailed it out of the house.

"It almost breaks my heart to say those words," Jack said, and Evie hoped he was joking, just a little bit. She was pretty sure he wasn't. Tosh was reading something on her hand-held device. Probably checking to see if the alien was letting off any harmful chemicals or anything like that.

"Air quality's okay," Tosh announced to the group. The group were all taking off their masks, but Gwen managed to look down to do so, and Carys rushed past her. Evie let off a string of curses just as Jack looked up to the room, and warned Gwen, who was still oblivious.

"Gwen, look out!" Jack called, but Carys had already run past her, and it was Owen who did the hero work for the day. Of course, he was stupid and used to inflatable prison, which was _not_ supposed to go on this mission. But it did the job well enough and Carys was caught.

"What's that?" Gwen asked looking curiously at the glowing field around the girl.

"It's a sort of inflatable cell. Power runs down after an hour. The battery life's bollocks," Owen explained casually.

"Which you are _not_ supposed to have Dr. Dumb-ass," Evie grumbled before Jack could get his own comments in.

"Um, I just stopped a prisoner escaping?" Owen asked with a crooked half-grin for Jack and Evie who were both staring him down.

"You know the rules. None of that stuff leaves the building without my expressed permission," Jack told him with a tone of voice that promised trouble to come.

"Fine. Don't thank me," Owen grumbled looking away from Evie, who was still glaring. Jack went closer to the inflatable cell and deactivated it with his wrist strap. When the cell vanished Gwen grabbed the younger woman before she could run off again and led her into the living room. Then she had to ruin the moment by stating the obvious.

"Come with us," Gwen ordered. As Gwen took her into the living room Jack retrieved the inflatable cell, and the rest of the team followed Gwen back into the living room.

_**XX**_

They all squeezed themselves back into the SUV (they really needed a bigger car, or to stop bringing so many people on missions), and Gwen kept hold of Carys in the back. That meant Evie got the front seat back, although she asked to drive. Jack refused, they didn't want the prisoner, or new girl to die of heart attack. For that matter it would be best if Owen was never in the car with Evie as she drove ever again as well.

The trip back to the hob wasn't a long one. And when they got there Tosh, Evie, and Owen all headed up to their computer stations while Jack and Gwen holding onto Carys trailed behind.

"See what you can get from her," Jack ordered heading up towards his office, presumably to wait for Ianto (the telepathic angel with amazing coffee skills) to appear with a mug.

"Aren't you going to stay with me?" Gwen asked nervously looking at the younger woman, "I don't know what I'm doing."

"Usually best if you don't say that in front of the prisoner," Jack advised before leaving Gwen standing there and making his way past Tosh and Evie at their station, and then further past Owen at his computer and up the stairs into his office. Gwen stood there dumbly for a moment before finally escorting Carys down to the holding cells.

While Gwen was gone with the girl Owen opened up the CCTV for the cells, to monitor Gwen's progress. They weren't leaving her completely alone, they were just making her think they had in order to get her to do some serious work. Plus to possibly boost her confidence.

Things were calm as Owen half watched the screen in front of him, Tosh was doing something with the CCTV system from the club and the information they had gathered on Carys Fletcher (even Evie had no idea exactly what she was doing), and Evie took a look at the possible origins again. Looked like five possible planets known to have sentient life, problem was none of them seemed to have life that would involve the two chemicals, either in themselves or in the propulsion of their ships. Which would imply a pit stop, unless they had miscalculated the trajectory. Whatever it was the caffeine wasn't helping anymore and Evie was half asleep at her desk. Why did none of the others show the effects of no sleep? They had been sneaking naps at work again hadn't they?

Then came the moment when Evie heard Owen muttering on the other side of the room.

"Hel-lo," Owen said stretching the sound out as he leant back in his chair, "Happy Birthday, me." He fiddled a moment with his computer before turning away, "Oi, you lot, treat."

Tosh and Jack went running to see what was going on as Evie leaned over her desk hoping to catch a moment of sleep. But the others were being loud.

"Whoa," That was Owen, with a tone of surprise.

"Wow," All Evie could think was _Such eloquence Captain…now shut it._

"She said she had a boyfriend," Tosh said only seeming half on the topic she had brought up. Must be something big. Evie didn't feel like looking.

"You people and your quaint little categories," Jack said. Gwen must be doing something stupid. Probably something related to sex…yeah, Jack was too happy for it to not be.

"We should really get her out of there," Tosh said still seemingly only half for her own plan of action.

"Yeah," Jack mumbled absently. Then a moment later he said with much more gusto, "I mean, yeah! Come on!" Then the sound of him running, a moment later the more dainty footsteps of Tosh and a creak of Owen's chair, like someone sitting down.

"Just, uh, ... record a bit first," He said probably intending the update for Jack, but the sound of his footsteps had already faded. No one was listening to him.

Finally silence, and Evie let herself drift off.

_**XX**_

When Evie woke it was to the rest of the team talking loudly, seemingly very close.

"So what's he told you?" Owen asked eagerly. Oh, sound like they were interrogating the newbie again. They did the same thing to Evie when she first started. Really, they should be interrogating her now. Although, they really shouldn't. She might just give them extra weevil cleaning duty.

"What about?" Gwen asked apparently confused.

"Himself!" Tosh qualified eagerly. They really wanted those answers, but even Evie didn't know that much. The stupid man hadn't even told her about the whole immortal deal.

"You've been here longer than I have," Gwen complained as Evie sat up slowly. No one noticed her on the couch just outside the door.

"We were banking on you!" Tosh complained.

"You're a copper, trained to ask questions," Owen explained.

"You don't know anything?" Gwen asked.

"Not who he is, not where he's from. Nothing, except him being gay," Owen said, saying the last as if it was definite. That's one thing that Evie could have helped them with, he wasn't gay, nor was he straight. Anything living, pretty, and willing, that was his type.

"No, he's not. Really, do you think?" Gwen sounded shocked at the very idea of it. She had a long way to go yet in the terms of understanding Jack Harkness. Nothing should ever surprise you, that was the first rule.

"No. Owen does. I don't," Tosh responded. That made sense Tosh has had an extra year to get to know the intricacies of the mystery that is Jack Harkness. Although…Evie had done her own snooping, through the Torchwood files. Some of them, namely Jack's, were missing. Anything that so much as mentioned him before 2001, had gone completely missing. That means they lost a good chunk of the 20th century.

"And I don't care," Ianto said bringing the conversation back to the forefront of Evie's mind.

"Period military is not the dress code of a straight man," Owen objected seriously. That might be true, but this was Jack. He should know by now, Jack is a dandy, and cares as much for his appearance as any of the girls to ever work there.

"I think it suits him. Sort of classic," Gwen added in. Evie was about to break in as Tosh made her next remark.

"Exactly! I've watched him in action. He'll shag anything if it's gorgeous enough," Tosh said before Evie entered the room. There was a shot moment of silence as everyone watched to see her reaction.

"Hey, I don't know much more that you. I do know that most of the record pertaining to him in the archives, they're gone. They've been gone for awhile as far as I can tell. I did some snooping a few days back. After the bit with Suzie, I needed to know a bit about everyone," Evie added in sitting next to Ianto, who quickly passed her take out over to her. It was barely warm, she must have been out at least an hour and a half.

"We know he's from America, right?" Gwen asked looking around at the others.

"We don't even know that for sure," Owen protested calmly.

"No US citizen by the name of Jack Harkness born in the last fifty years," Tosh said with a shake of her head. Another dead end.

"I don't think that's his real name," Evie comment pulling her chopsticks apart, "See, because he goes by 'Captain' Jack Harkness, the rank on his coat, it's for a Group Captain. There's a gap there. Plus, sometimes when he's had a lot of alone time, and he's been thinking it takes a couple tries to get his attention, like he's listening for a different name to respond to."

There was a long moment of silence before Ianto tossed in his own theory.

"Used to be something big in the CIA. That's what I reckon," It made sense too. A bit at least, that would explain his mysterious records, but Evie knew that couldn't be right. He had said he was a time traveller, but Evie would be the first to tell you that it simply isn't possible with only 21st century understanding of math, science, and technology. She had been working on it for years, and there were still three giant hole you could fit one of the pyramids through, one of the really really big ones.

"He must have his reasons for wanting to keep things secret," Gwen said being the bleeding heart of the group again. And Evie was supposed to be the conscience? She had just gotten booted out of the job. But maybe they needed someone like Gwen to point it out, and someone like Evie to guilt the Captain into doing the right thing.

"Sure he has. Doesn't stop me wanting to know what they are," Owen said casually taking a bit of his noodles. Evie spooned up some rice and shoveled it into her mouth. She had been forced to survive on pizza, tea, and gum for too many hours. She also noticed that while Jack's empty seat hid some kind of booze, and Gwen had a beer, she had been given water. No caffeine. At least she got seltzer water, the bubbles were always nice.

Then Evie's moment of good food was ruined by the sound of crying. Carys must be loosing again. Damn, they'd have to get back to work soon. But knowing Owen's need for medical data, and Tosh's own conscience they probably were monitoring all changes in her body.

"What's that sound?" Gwen asked looking around the room a bit. She was further from the source than Evie, she probably wasn't picking it up as strongly. But everyone quieted as Owen grabbed the remote in the middle of the table and turned the monitor behind Evie on. Evie didn't turn to look, she knew what she would see, so she just kept going through her dinner, hoping to get some food in her before Jack turned up with more orders.

As if Evie's thoughts had called him Jack came back into the room just then. He stood behind his seat and watched the screen across the room in silence for a moment. There was complete silence except for the sobbing they could all hear far too clearly coming from the young woman, barely more than a girl. Far too young to be caught up in terrors like these.

"What are we doing having Chinese while a girl fights for her life?" Gwen asked looking incredulously at the mostly empty container in front of her.

"Actually, while we've been eating, the computers have been running a full bio-scan on Carys, profiling her blood, metabolism, organs, skin, the works. So we can see what effect the alien's having on her. They've also been taking samples of the air in the cell so we can analyze any changes in the environment around her. Now, is that enough? Do you want more? Cos, uh, it gets kinda boring," Jack informed her much to Evie's expectations.

"Besides, we won't help anyone if we don't eat. By the way Jack, thank you for letting me sleep a little while. I'll be fine till at least three in the morning now. Preferably I'll get to bed before that though," Evie said before eating the last bite of her lunch.

"You've been hidden down here too long. Spending so much time with the alien stuff, you've lost what it means to be human," Gwen said looking sadly between her new teammates.

_I'm not sure I ever knew._ The thought wasn't Evie's, but it wasn't not hers either. Maybe that's what it feels like to have multiple personalities, thoughts which sound like you, but you know you didn't think them.

"So remind us. Tell me what it means to be human in the 21st century," Jack said part dare, part request, and part order. How he could fit that many nuances into two short sentences…

"All right," Gwen said seeming to grow inside her own skin until she fit, just right. Maybe Evie just needed a little more sleep. She wasn't normally this thought provoking about thoughts.

Gwen left the room and Evie dropped her head to the table. She was about to close her eyes when someone came up behind her and pulled her head up. She turned to see Jack standing there with a little look in his eye that Evie couldn't quite catch.

"We'll need you soon. If nothing else you scare Owen into being nice sometimes," Jack said refusing her sleep.

"I usually guilt people into doing things. Do I really scare him? I shouldn't, I'm cute and cuddly bunny rabbit," Evie said the last with a voice she had forced higher than normal and a shit-eating grin.

"I'll show you the CCTV sometime of the time you took out the weevil that slipped past Owen when he was on weevil duty. He's terrified of you," Jack said quietly so Owen on the other side of the room cleaning up his lunch wouldn't hear.

"Huh, and I was just trying that move you showed me the day before. I wanted to see if a roundhouse kick to the groin would be as debilitating to a weevil as a human male. We've now proven that it works, and you summarily forbid me from ever doing it again because I sterilized the poor thing," Evie said raising an eyebrow. Of all the situations that would make Owen scared of her that actually made the most sense. While he was a horribly talented surgeon, and now he was an expert in alien physiology, he was also a drunk and a man known for one night stands.

"Hey Owen," Jack called the other man over," What is the scariest thing about Evie?"

"That glare, and the kick. Good lord that kick makes me want to wear iron pants," Owen said shuddering at the last bit.

"And Tosh, what's the scariest thing about Evie?" Jack asked turning to the computer genius who was about to leave the conference room.

"She's not scary. I know she wouldn't do anything to me, which makes her as harmless as a rabbit with no teeth or claws. Just cuddly," Tosh replied sounding slightly off. Maybe it was just because she was using Evie's phrases and a few of her modes of speech.

"Ianto?" Jack asked looking at the quietest person on the team.

"Her control. She knows things that I didn't even know she knew. About everyone," Ianto said seriously before clearing away the trash from the table. Everyone else just stood and stared at Ianto for a moment. And Evie was wondering, _How does he know that I know things about everyone, Or that he doesn't know some of the secrets I'm privy too. I'll have to go digging into Jones, Ianto Jones again._

There were several moments of awkward silence as an expression grew on Evie's face. It said something along the lines of 'oh I didn't know that, now I'm going to hold that over their heads for the rest of their lives while I find out secrets they thought had been forever hidden.' It was a very complex expression.

_**XX**_

When Gwen came back twenty minutes later Evie was leaning against the wall as everyone else grouped around the table (minus Gwen). The entire team had been shooting Evie uncomfortable looks since that incident, because she had her 'I'm thinking' face on. And that was worrying Jack and Owen, while Ianto seemed stoic about the whole thing and Tosh seemed uncomfortable about the situation, while simultaneously unconcerned about Evie herself.

AS Gwen walked in she seemed to sense something odd had happened and kept glancing from one person to another uncomfortably. But she still set up her information and created a nice little presentation about the situation.

"Do we need to be here?" Owen asked irritably. It seemed the tension had finally gotten to him. Jack dismissed him, Tosh, and Ianto. But made Evie stay.

Gwen seemed thrown for a moment before continuing. She handed Jack a stack of papers and started speaking.

"Carys Fletcher, born 13th November, 1987. School reports, personnel files from her temping agency, swimming badges from when she was six, reports of her mother's death in a car crash when she was ten. And last year's emails discussing the merits of Orlando Bloom and Heath Ledger," Gwen told him as he sifted through the pile in front of him.

"Why did you do this?" Evie asked, "You could just found her basic records. The emails are a bit over the top."

"This isn't about meteorites or gases. We have a trapped girl and we have to save her. When I was with her in the cell, Carys told me she was losing. We have to find a way to keep her fighting, remind her to hold on to who she is," Gwen responded seeming to be fired up about this topic. Jack and Evie remained quiet for a minute. Jack was staring at Gwen intently, and Evie was looking over Gwen's board she had created, as well as the papers she had handed Jack. Evie was rather impressed with the detail, and it did make it clear what this girl was like. She was only a few years younger than Evie and Ianto, but compared to the two of them she really was a little girl. She had never had to question the very life she lived, and she had probably never seen death before now.

Evie realized suddenly that Carys was a lot like she had been in university. She was about the same age, and she had never seen death, probably never hit a guy, trusting of the people around her, intelligent, a bit childish about the reality of the world around her, close to her family…the parallel was blatantly obvious now. The papers in Evie's hand dropped as they went slack.

The poor girl would never be the same. She would never be able to live life the way she had before, even if she tried. Now that the darkness of the world was opened to her, it would drive itself into her very mind and soul.

She could never recover.

"Have I got something on my face?" Gwen asked Jack, not seeing Evie's reaction behind her.

"No. Uh ... Just, it's ... brilliant," Jack told Gwen before turning his head to look at the board, but seeing Evie instead, "Evie? Are you alright?"

"Evie?" Gwen asked before turning to see the younger woman. She had her head rested on the board and her eyes closed breathing deeply, "Evie? What's wrong?"

"She's me," Evie whispered barely loud enough for the other two to hear her, "She's just like me. Me from before. Before I realized. Before Mam died, before Aethelred disappeared, before everything changed. Before I broke."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked looking at Evie curiously. Evie turned her head with it still resting against the board; one of the papers ripped a little from the movement.

"She's exactly like me before I realized I don't exist," Evie told her, her voice was choked with emotion of some kind, and Evie didn't know what. Was it pity? Or grief for the end of her own innocence? Or was she grieving over the end of Cary's Fletcher the innocent little girl?

"Maybe you should take the rest of this case off," Jack suggested getting up and gripping Evie's arm lightly, "I'll get Ianto to give you a ride home in the SUV, and you get some sleep. We'll see you back here tomorrow." Jack lead Evie from the room gently, as though she were a porcelain doll which could break at any moment. He took her to her desk and sat her down before turning back to when Gwen was still standing bewildered.

"What was that about?" Gwen asked thinking she was being quiet. And she was really, if Evie hadn't been trying to block out her own thoughts she wouldn't have caught Gwen's question.

"Just what brought Evie to us. This isn't a good case for her to be on," Jack said before saying (presumably into his headset), "Ianto? I need you to give Evie a ride home…Yes in the SUV…I'm letting you drive…Evie is to go to bed. No tea or gum or anything."

"What brought her here?" Gwen asked in a loud whisper. It was supposed to be covert surely, but it was obvious to Evie, she was sitting right there. Evie knew that Owen and Tosh were probably watching her, or possibly Gwen and Jack's conversation. They were watching one or the other, there was no question about that.

"Evie?" Ianto's voice asked from a little ways behind her. Evie sat up a little, but didn't turn. She wasn't really thinking, just listening, not even processing what was said.

"That's her business really. I suggest you ask her when she's feeling better. She might not tell you; it's not something I've heard her talk about except once, and she wasn't in any kind of fit state then," Jack told Gwen as Ianto touched Evie's shoulder.

"Come on Evie, let's get you home," Ianto said grabbing Evie's jacket and draping it over her shoulders. Then he grabbed her purse and one hand and let Evie lean on his other arm. He gave a nod to Jack (that he seemed to think Evie didn't notice), before walking her out of the hub as the rest of the team watched them go in silence.

As the cog door shut Gwen asked, "Have they got a thing for each other?"

_**XX**_

Ianto tucked Evie into bed when they got to her flat, and cleaned up the mess a little while he waited for her to get to sleep.

The flat was very cluttered nowadays, the old rickety furniture had been mostly replaced, many of the pieces was still second-hand but they were more stylish and in much better condition. There was a line of bookshelves on one wall of Evie's bedroom, which were mostly full. She had apparently spent almost her whole first paycheck on new books (the second was supposedly spent on clothes, and the third on new furniture). And because Evie was almost never home, the place had a deserted feel. There was dust on the bookshelves, and a number of the books, and the TV remote had a rather thick layer; when she was home Evie didn't spend her time watching TV. Even the computer looked like it hadn't been turned on in days.

When he heard Evie's steady breathing in her room, he left locking the door behind him. Even if it was only about 14:00, he was fairly sure (recognizing the way she has previously slept at work) that she would be out till sometime in the morning. Hopefully this whole mess would be cleaned up, and she could have a quiet day playing with some strange piece of alien equipment that's been sitting in the archive since 1900.

_**XX**_

Evie came in late to work the next day, but she was so bubbly and bright it didn't seem like she was the same person. Evie had been running on too little sleep for too long, just breaking down and sleeping 15 hours was really what she needed. She took the time to eat a real breakfast (which she didn't usually), and she came into work wearing a cute little dress which was not at all appropriate for her work, and so she hadn't worn in almost three months. She had bothered with make-up, and it looked like she had taken a curling iron to her hair.

All in all, she looked much better than she had in years really. She had stopped bothering with make-up in the year at the family estate, and the curling iron had been gathering dust since she bought it four months ago.

"Morning!" She called cheerily to the team already working. Gwen had taken Suzie's old desk between Evie and Owen, and looked tired. Owen was chugging a coffee, and it looked like he had only gotten to work a few minutes before Evie (which wasn't surprising, he never came into work before at least 7 am), and Tosh was sipping her own coffee as she worked on something at her own computer.

"Feeling okay?" Gwen asked looking her over. Gwen was wearing just jeans and a collared shirt, nothing fancy, unlike Tosh (she was wearing dress pants and a nice blouse), or Evie. She seemed uncomfortable like she felt underdressed.

"Why wouldn't I be fine?" Evie asked a slight furrow to her brow, "I'm sorry about falling asleep at work yesterday. How'd the thing with the girl go?" It seemed she had blocked her revelation and the consequences from yesterday.

"Fine, we managed to get the alien to leave her body, caught it in the inflatable prison and it died. Didn't do well with our atmosphere," Owen commented calmly.

"Oh, too bad we couldn't really talk with it. It's probably better though, out of the girl at least. She already go home?" Evie asked logging into her computer.

"No, Jack and I were about to take her home," Gwen told her with a little smile.

"Retcon? I don't think it would be a good idea though. After all, when she saw anything in the paper with the guy who died…she might remember, and it's really best not to mess with the mind too much. It's fragile enough as it is," Evie asked then responded for herself. While Evie wasn't usually the one to pass out the retcon, she was the one who kept track of how much there was. Every week she counted out the number of doses they had for use, and if there were any unaccounted for, she told Jack.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jack said coming out of his office, "Nice to see you so energetic. How long have you been here?"

"Just got in. Ianto hasn't even come to talk me into trying some new type of coffee yet," Evie told him with a grin as big as his own.

"Good, try the next one would you? Then Ianto can find some nice decaf for you to drink. Then we wouldn't have to worry about you sleeping all day," Jack scolded jokingly.

"I need a little beauty sleep. We're not all endowed with 51st century pheromones to make irresistible," Evie quipped back, "Tell the girl good luck from me. Aliens can wreck your life."

Gwen and Jack left to get Carys out of the autopsy bay (where she had spent the night) Gwen giving Evie a look, which asked the question 'what happened to you? And how would you know what aliens can do to a girl's life?'

A few minutes later Gwen and Jack left with Cary's walking slightly unsteadily between the two. The four remaining Torchwood members spent their time on little projects they had all been meaning to do weeks ago, but hadn't quite found the time to finish them.

For Owen it was analyzing some chemicals found in an alien that had dropped in a few weeks back, that had been unusual, but hadn't seemed dangerous at the time. The alien had died shortly after falling through the rift, and the team had only just managed to get the body before the police found it.

Tosh had some modifications she wanted to make to the rift predictor, but there were a lot of redundancies, and she simply hadn't had enough straight downtime from dealing with new things out of the rift to get enough work done on the predictions. Her records of past rift activity were perfect, she was trying to get her future predictions to be just as perfect using innate patterns in the wave of activity to find where and when a spike would occur.

Evie was taking some time with her old thesis again. She had come up with sudden inspiration about one of the equations where the number was an unknown, which she realized had skewed the entire diagram, and one of the straight lines in her diagram, should be curved because it has an exponential, not direct correlation with one of her other lines. Her diagram had one line each for past present and future, while several lines connected the three at different points which she had stated to be fixed and unchangeable. She had represented all three lines as straight, but the line of the present has an exponential correlation to not only the future but also to the past.

It had come to her in one of her 'strange dreams.' She had been sitting in a room, she couldn't really see the room, it was blurry, like water dripped on a watercolor painting, everything was running together. But a man's voice was talking, and she was listening intently as the man talked about a friend of his, who he had been travelling with…

"…_And then there was this huge explosion, so I knew we weren't going to get out the way we came. Which was sad really…"_

"_How did you get out," She asked eagerly._

"_Well, we turned around and found a side passage of course. We made it back alright. He was ready to go home though. Don't blame him really. So we went back to his home, and I decided to visit," He said, and Evie could hear a grin in his voice, "Hope I'm not bother."_

"_Oh, hush! You're always a bother. I don't know why I put up with you!" Evie exclaimed joking._

"_Oh, I'll just leave then," The man's voice said. Evie was fairly sure he was joking, but she didn't want to risk him leaving again so soon._

"_But I love seeing you," Evie added quietly. She could almost feel his grin, and she found herself grinning back._

"_Well, I suppose I'll just stay a little longer. But shouldn't you be getting home? He'll worry," The man said sounding sad at the prospect of her going._

"_He's working right now. I'm free all night," Evie told him spreading her arms and twirling. The man turned music on and gripped her around the waist. They danced for a while before Evie asked, "So, past or future next time?"_

"_Which is which? But anyway, I think I'll be travelling to the future next time. Don't much fancy mucking about in the past again. Might meet myself," The man responded. _

"_Well, you'll just have to go somewhere else. You travel about too much. You should stay a little while. There are people here who love you," Evie told the man. He just sighed and released her. Evie knew that was the end of the visit this time. As soon as she left he would be off and who knew when she would see him again?_

In the dream it hadn't seemed odd that they would speak of time travel, but as she woke she realized that the conversation had been impossible. First of all, the 'he' the voice in the dream had spoken of was someone who tied her down, a boyfriend or a husband of some kind. The relationship with the voice was similar to how she had felt about Aethelred, but deeper somehow. It made no sense really.

_**XX**_

_**So big major points to anyone who already knows what's up with Evie. I've dropped at least one hint a chapter, but this one is the really big one. There are no plans to officially reveal the secret of Evie's confused memory until after the end of series one.**_

_**This is one of my least favorite episodes, but it was important to explain how Gwen fits into the mix with Evie already there. But because it's one of my least favorite episodes Evie's slept through a good bit of it, so I didn't have to type it all up. **_

_**I will be skipping episode 3, we'll assume it happened, and it happened the same way it did in the show. Evie was smart enough not to touch the thing, and therefore had little role in that episode. However, I really like episode 4, and I'll have to show how it affects Ianto and Evie's relationship (because they're close and he's never even hinted his girlfriend was alive in one of the storage rooms). Then after episode 4 I have an original adventure for the group to go through (while Ianto is on suspension), and I'm undecided on whether or not episode 5 will be included in the chapter after that.**_


	4. Cyberwoman

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is currently starting at episode 4, Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is somewhere unknown, it won't come up again for awhile.**_

_**XX**_

The next few weeks were fairly slow. Well, except for the whole bit with the Ghost Machine, that wasn't slow. But the rest of it.

There were a couple of weevils, one other piece of new tech, but nothing to need to call out the full forces for. In fact it had been so slow that Jack had gotten bored one day and bought a basketball hoop. Not only did he buy the thing, he also bought a basketball, and put the Torchwood logo on the backing behind the hoop. It was something that Evie had no interest in, but Tosh, Gwen, and Owen had already gotten into the habit of getting into a game of two on two with Jack to settle bets. Owen of course always bet on a round or two of drinks at the pub, which Evie never joined them for. They still went to the little pub where she used to work, and it was a little awkward. Besides she learned how to make drinks in university because she didn't like to drink them herself, she was always the designated driver.

This evening wasn't any different. The four of them were planning on going out for drinks, and had decided to play a game to see who had to pay for the first round. Evie and Ianto were staying to get some work done. The game was played and concluded with Owen apparently cheating by standing over the railing on the floor above and dropping the ball right into the hoop. So they were off, and Jack was left with the tab. Evie spent the whole time sitting at her computer sipping a hot beverage concoction from Ianto, which was not tea, and it wasn't coffee (Evie didn't think), and it certainly wasn't cocoa, but it was good. The pastry he had brought with the drink was equally exquisite.

"Oh, Ianto, there you are," Evie said when she turned her head to see Ianto standing next to the cog door.

"Hello Evie. Are you staying to work?" Ianto asked shuffling a bit.

"And miss a long quiet lunch? No. Plus I don't have anything to do today. I just wanted to tell you that whatever this drink is, it's amazing. Plus you got the really good pastries from the bakery this time," Evie smiled at him before draining her mug and setting it on the plate the pastry had been on, "Thank you Ianto. You should hang about downstairs more often, I miss seeing my best friend." Evie was about to hand the plate to Ianto when she changed her mind, "I'll take this to the kitchen and wash up. Do you want to do out to dinner with me? Or we could just order a Chinese to eat here."

"No, I'm fine. I'm going to work through lunch, so I'll order some pizzas, for me, and Jack and the rest if they ever come back," Ianto refused pulling out his phone.

"Are you sure? I'll pay if you want," Evie offered.

"I'm sure, I'll finish with those, and you can get your quiet time," Ianto told her with a small smile, that made his face look so gentle.

"Alright…" Evie said raising an eyebrow at his stubbornness, he'd usually agree to come along when she asked a second time, "I'll see you around two then."

Evie left feeling like there was something she was missing.

_**XX**_

Evie got pulled away from her lunch at a quiet little café a little ways from the hub by a call from Jack asking her to come in. There was a UFO sighting over Cardigan Bay. So Evie paid as fast as she could and took the second half of her sandwich with her. Then she rushed back through the tourist shop to find everyone already working diligently.

"Sorry I'm late," Evie said setting her sandwich on her desk.

"Oh, good you're here," Jack said coming over to look at Tosh's screen.

"So, what are we dealing with?" Evie asked before biting into her sandwich. She really had been looking forward to some quiet time.

"Arkan leisure crawler, first generation. Collectors' item, don't see many of those around these days. Tosh, send a polite message saying great to see them, but could they please get the hell out of our atmosphere they're spooking the locals," Jack said both to Evie who had asked the question, and Gwen who had the same on written on her face. Tosh typed up the message, and when she finshed she half turned to look at Jack with a cheery, "Done!"

"Shouldn't we be apprehending it? Investigating it?" Gwen asked definitely sounding confused. Evie had long since stopped questioning Jack's decision on interrogate vs. not interrogate.

"Oh, please. You interrogate an Arkan, you'll be in there for a month. And that's just the first question. They are so boring. Besides, they're mostly made of liquid, the cells would be a mess," Jack said casually.

"Yeah, and I could have stayed and finished off my lunch at the leisurely fashion," Evie complained, while Jack and the group gave her a strange look.

"It's almost five," Jack told her with a question in his voice.

"No it isn't, it's not even…"Evie started before glancing at her watch. It was 4:53, "I swear I left work at 1:30 to go get some lunch. I offered to take Ianto with me, but he said he was working through lunch. So I was going to clean my mug…and…I think we talked and I left. It was fully light outside. I swear."

Just as Jack was about to say something else the lights in the hub started flashing on and off.

"There it goes again!" Owen complained throwing his hands back. Evie looked at her screens, they said '23% POWER LOSS.' Jack brought his wrist strap up close to his face.

"Ianto, we've got another dose of darkness. You found anything?" Jack asked Ianto, who was apparently trying to fix the power. Or whatever was wrong with it.

"I'll go find him," Evie offered," I've lost three hours of the day, I might as well see if I can't do something useful now." Evie hopped out of her seat as Jack tried calling for Ianto again. There still wasn't a response.

Evie went down to the storage area quickly to find a door she had never bothered with before. But it was lit up, through the crack at the bottom of the door, and the window in one of the doors she could see bright blue-white light and occasional shocks of red light. Curious about the locked door she tried to look in the window, but the glass was long since warped and fogged, and the light seemed to be very bright. But the door had been locked, and at Torchwood that generally meant no one was supposed to go in without Jack's permission.

But then, this must be where all the power was going…

Evie threw back the lock, and opened the door wide.

In the middle of the room was a table of some kind, and on it was a woman. She probably used to be pretty, but the metal encasing large portions of her body somewhat ruined the effect of her once beauty. She still had a good figure, but it didn't seem to matter much, as she was wreathed in a corona of bright light, and if Evie could recall the files well enough, that metal band sticking through her head was screaming 'Cyberman'.

Then the woman sat up suddenly, and Evie realized that if this woman really was a Cyberman, then Evie was going to need a gun. So she backed out of the room, closed and bolted the door before turning, just in time to see Gwen ad Owen coming down the hall.

"What's in there?" Gwen asked as Evie turned.

"I'm pretty sure it's a Cyberman, although she doesn't look much like the images we have on file," But that all means I need a gun, and I need one soon," Evie told them, "Guard the door, and make sure it doesn't come out, at least not alive and functioning."

Then Evie rushed past them up into the main part of the hub, cursing her choice of clothing that day. New rule: no heels at Torchwood, even for a slow day. Because slow days end up being the worst of them all.

As Evie reached the main level of the hub she kicked off her shoes at her desk before shouting at Jack, "looks like a Cyberman. Maybe she's not fully converted, I don't know. But either way I'm in need of a gun." She said all this as she rushed past to the weapons room.

"Get one then. I'm smelling treachery," Jack told her. That made Evie pause in the action of grabbing her favorite gun.

"Treachery? Who would have brought a Cyberman into the hub?" Evie asked moving more slowly to rejoin them at Tosh's computer screen. Then she saw the video playing, it was Ianto letting someone into the hub, "Why the hell would he do this!"

Jack turned to look at Evie only to see that her face was a mask of anger, and there was probably no way he was going to get any reason out of her.

"I've trusted him! He knows, all my secrets, I've trusted him with my life, how the hell could he betray us like this?" With that Evie went rocketing off back into the lower reaches of the hub where she was sure she would find Ianto, and she wasn't sure she wouldn't shoot him on sight.

As Evie rounded the corner at a run she met up with Gwen and Owen still guarding the door like she had told them.

"Why is there a Cyberman in the basement?" Owen asked Evie as she reached them.

"Ianto Bloody Jone," Evie breathed out slowly, barely loud enough for the other two to hear her.

"Why would he do that?" Gwen asked . Apparently Owen had filled her in while Evie had been gone.

"I don't know. But it has to be shot. And then shot again. And again. Until all that's left are little scraps of flesh and metal. I won't leave it to kill us all," Evie said before stepping past them to the door. That was when Jack came running around the corner.

"Evie, what are you doing?" Jack asked as she placed her hand on the lock.

"I'm going to go in, and shoot the bloody thing until I FEEL BETTER," Evie shouted turning back to the Jack, "I'm not going to let it kill anyone. Never again."

"While I agree with the shooting bit, I don't think you should be the one doing it. You're too emotional about it. So you're going to stay back here with Gwen and Owen, and I'm going to shoot it," Jack told her before pushing her lightly back from the doorway. Evie went pliantly enough, but everyone in the corridor knew that if the shot opened up, she was going to take it.

Of course that was when it all went to hell. When Jack went in, he shut off the machine, but he couldn't find the Cyberman, so the other three walked in. The Cyberman hit Owen over the head, and he was out cold, then took Gwen's gun and stuck her in the conversion machine, all while Evie and Jack both tried to get a shot in which would not endanger the others more than they already were. Then Ianto came barreling in and grabbed hold of Jack to keep him from shooting the Cyberman, and Evie's attention was drawn away because she wanted to shoot Ianto almost as much as the Cyberman (a shot to his leg would have been painful and satisfying while still leaving him functional enough to answer any questions they asked of him.

But then the conversion machine came online and all three of them were scrambling to save Gwen. It was Evie who eventually tried to hit the off button while the other two were busy getting the shackles on Gwen's arms and legs off. But the damn thing was jammed and Jack had to call Tosh to shut down the power, and that would initiate lock-down procedures; they would be trapped in with the Cyberwoman.

When Tosh got the power the lights shut off and the emergency redlights popped on, almost seamlessly.

"Gwen?" Jack asked bringing himself to the conversion unit where Gwen was still trapped.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine. Sort of. Jack, please get me out of here!" Gwen asked in a half-panicked voice, the tone higher than normal. Evie was holding her gun so it looked like she was holding it at the ground, she was really pointing it at Ianto's leg. She really kind of wanted to shoot him.

"It's all right," Jack said in a placating voice. Of course it wasn't alright. There was a Cyberwoman roaming about the hub, and Tosh was somewhere all by herself.

"Where is she? Where did she go? Please tell me you got her!" Gwen was definitely panicking, but at least she was asking the right questions. Jack looked over at Ianto and saw where Evie was pointing her gun. He shook his head before telling her, "Stand guard by the door."

Evie nodded and went to the door with an icy glare for Ianto as she passed him. Ianto wasn't really looking at Evie though, he was focused on Gwen who was still in the conversion unit.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry," Ianto told Gwen making Evie whip about.

"You goddamn better be you fucking liar," Evie shouted. Ianto had the grace to look guilty, and the brains to know not to say anything. Evie turned back towards the corridor as Jack got Gwen out of the unit, and Ianto lifted Owen's limp form off the ground.

The group of them left the room ,with Owen carried over Jack's shoulder, and while Jack and Gwen's guns were focused on the hall in front of them, Evie had hers on Ianto. When they had made it partway down the hall the Cyberwoman appeared for just a moment, before walking off again; pausing just long enough for a snippet of conversation.

"Oh, God, there she is. What is she?" Gwen asked sounding scared. Apparently Owen hadn't gotten a very good explanation in.

"Some form of Cyberman. They're us, upgraded. Humans with emotions removed, created on a parallel world and supposedly destroyed on this one," Jack said giving Ianto a sideways look.

"What are we gonna do?" Gwen asked, probably expecting the others to have a plan of some kind.

"I don't know," Jack replied just as the Cyberwoman stepped away from them and escaped their view.

"She's gone," Ianto breathed out, he was probably relieved he hadn't died yet. But Evie cocked her gun and placed it to the back of his head.

"I'm really resisting the urge to shoot you, and it looks like Jack's just behind me. Get us into the hub, and Tosh better not have so much as a scrape," Evie ordered her voice tense with anger. Ianto started moving immediately as Gwen gave Evie an incredulous look. Even knowing that he was probably the reason all this mess happened, it was still Ianto, Evie's 'angel'.

_**XX**_

"Tosh, get everything from the weapons room. Fast as you can," Jack ordered as they reentered the main floor of the hub.

"It's locked down, there's no manual override," Tosh argued.

"Just open the store!" Jack shouted at her. He probably didn't need that much force, but they were all a little frayed. Jack and Evie more than anyone else. Tosh got to work on the weapons locker as Jack turned back to Ianto. "On your knees! Hands above your head!" Jack ordered Ianto while focusing his gun on Ianto's head. Evie's was already focused on Ianto, although she kept changing focus, she really wanted to shoot him in the foot, but if he was a true danger the chest or head were more deadly. But did Evie even want to be deadly?

"Did you know that thing was down there?" Jack asked Ianto dangerously. Evie passed a look over Ianto's head that said 'of course the fucking traitor knew, he's a fucking traitor.'

"I put her there," Ianto admitted, at least he was sounding guilty about it all.

"You hid a Cyberman within Torchwood? And you didn't tell us? What else are you keeping from us?" Jack demanded hefting his gun slightly so as to get a better aim at Ianto's head.

"Like you care—" Ianto started only to be caught by Evie's voice.

"Care? Of course I cared! You were my best fucking friend! I comforted you over losing everything at Canary Warf, and you comforted me over nothing being real. We knew each other, I knew earlier that something was off, but did I ask? No. I fucking should have!" Evie argued making Gwen turn her head from behind Evie. Gwen had never heard anything about 'nothing being real.'

"You, just you Evie…The rest of you I clear up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life?" Ianto said turning back to Jack. Then of course Jack felt guilty enough to lower his gun, Evie had no such compunctions, she was now staying with his foot though.

"Her name's Lisa. She's my girlfriend," Ianto said looking around at them.

"Why did you let us all think she was dead?" Evie asked finally dropping the gun, "We would have helped you. Jack wasn't going to give you the job anyway. I would have actually worked at getting you the job instead of just insulting his brainpower."

"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?" Ianto said slumping a little. It seemed like all the fight he had left was leaving his body.

"Because I was your best friend," Evie said just as Owen said, "I little loyalty maybe." Ianto of course argued with Owen, he had already lost with Evie the moment he didn't tell her what was going earlier in the evening.

"My loyalty's to her! She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in battle. I owe it to Lisa ... WE owe it to her ... to find a cure," Ianto said his eyes getting a little teary. Evie couldn't blame him, but she knew she couldn't trust him where it came to Lisa.

"Ianto, you have to believe me. There is no cure. There never will be. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception," Jack told him sounding serious and sad. Evie had gone silent when Ianto hadn't even tried to reply to her.

"You can't know that for sure," Ianto argued with the surety of a man in love.

"Look, you need to know what's happening here. Because this is where these things start. Small decisions that become mass slaughter. These creatures regain a foothold by exploiting human weakness. Then they take a base. Rebuild their forces. And before you know it, the Cyber race is spreading out across the universe, erasing worlds, assimilating populations. All because of the tiny beginnings here. We need to stop her ... together!" Jack argued getting a little more steamed up. Ianto of course wasn't happy with the whole speech and he got up off the floor where he had been kneeling this whole time.

"You're not listening to me! The conversion was never completed!" Ianto argued.

"She already tried to kill Gwen! You think she's gonna stop there? There is no turning back for her now!" Yeah, that was definitely Jack's point of contention; it wasn't that Ianto had brought his half converted girlfriend into the hub, it was that said girlfriend had put _Jack's_ team in danger.

"I'm ... not giving up on her. I love her. Can you understand that, Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?" Ianto asked which caused a moment of silence. Then he did the unforgivable, he turned to Evie and asked, "If you had a chance to bring your brother back, and prove you're real wouldn't you have taken it? Even if it meant putting the hub in danger?"

"No, Ianto, I wouldn't. Maybe I would try to see him for a moment, but he lived a happy life…I…I couldn't bring him back, even if I miss him. I wouldn't have put you, and the rest in danger just to have him back again," Evie said shaking her head feeling her throat close up with tears, it had been a low blow, "You have to accept. Lisa _did_ die at Canary Wharf, that's just her corpse shambling about like a bad horror movie. For a single moment it might seem you have her back, but it's not real. _It's not real._" Everyone stayed silent for a moment watching Ianto and Evie in their moment of emotions before Jack stepped close to Ianto.

"You need to figure out whose side you're on here. Because if you don't know ... you're not going to make it out of this alive," Jack told Ianto in a dangerous voice, the emergency red lighting making the statement that much more ominous.

"There's no way this weapons store's gonna open," Owen announced to change the subject to something they were all comfortable with; running for their lives while trying to kill a mad Cyberwoman.

"It's going to take six hours for the power to come back online," Tosh said holding up a couple of wires from where she had pulled them from the door controller.

"Let me talk to her. I can still save her. Save all of us. She's not a monster," Ianto asked just as Lisa came into view on the other side of the hub. Ianto immediately went barreling off to meet her, well maybe barreling wasn't the right word, he was kind of cautious. But then, even though he was cautious walking towards your girlfriend who had been half converted into a Cyberwoman is usually construed as barreling.

Gwen made as if to go after him, but Owen and Evie caught her. Gwen looked over at them, but didn't quite seem to catch that the two were saving her life.

"Lisa ..." Ianto stated slowly on the other side of the main hub. Lisa apparently still knew her own name, because she turned to look at Ianto as he approached.

"It's me," Ianto continued.

"You can't just let him go ..." Gwen half yelled at Jack only to be shushed by the rest of the team. But she had made enough noise that Lisa could have noticed them. But she looked around the hub and didn't seem to notice them on the other side of the water.

"The army will be rebuilt from here. This building is suitable," Lisa said in a mechanized voice that made Evie's blood run cold.

"Who are you?" Jack called across.

"Human point two," Lisa replied staring blankly in their direction. No emotion, so recognition. Just blank.

"No! Lisa ..." Ianto called taking a large half step closer to Lisa.

"So how come you look like human point one?" Jack asked

"I do not understand," Lisa protested

"Look at yourself. Go ahead," Jack ordered. Lisa turned to look at her reflection in the shiny metal next to her. Which Evie had to wonder why there was a conveniently placed piece of shiny metal just there. It wasn't like they were ever over just there. Somehow, Evie blamed it on Jack, although it might have been Ianto.

"Remember, Lisa. Remember who you are," While that might work, Evie was of the opinion that Ianto's attempt was rather clichéd.

"The upgrade is incomplete," Lisa complained. Although, it wasn't really a complaint seeing as how she wasn't speaking with anything resembling emotion…

"You're still human," Ianto told her stepping closer, which couldn't be a good idea. Evie was pretty sure that Ianto was about to be choked, hit, shot, or in some other way injured.

"I am ... disgusting. I have ... I am ... wrong," Lisa said still focused on her reflection. Maybe she did have emotions. Disgust is an emotion right?

"We can help you," Ianto told her stepping closer again. Why did he only step closer as he was saying something, and therefore drawing attention to himself? It made no sense in the long run.

"I must start again. Upgrade properly," Lisa said beginning to look away from her reflection. Ianto took several steps closer and started complaining.

"For God's sake! Have you heard yourself? Lisa, please. I brought you here to heal you. So we could be together," Ianto said emotion straining his voice. The contrast between him and his former girlfriend was sharp enough to cut into your heart.

"Together. Yes. Transplant my brain into your body," Lisa said turning fully to look at Ianto, as Ianto broke down and started crying, "The two of us ... together. Fused. We'll be one complete person. Isn't that what love is?" Evie finally felt some compassion towards Ianto again. She would never have done this, and she could never again trust him because he did it, but she definitely felt bad for him because of this grotesque parody of what had once been Ianto's lover.

"No," Ianto managed to get out his voice thick and tears spilling from his eyes.

"Then we are not compatible," Lisa stated before grabbing Ianto by the neck (presumably to choke him) threw him across the water in the middle of the hub so he hit the concrete on the other side with a loud slam, and a dull crack.

In retaliation Jack raised his gun, aiming to hit Lisa on the other side. But Lisa raised her hand and shot some kind of red-tinted electricity at Jack, hitting his gun, and making him drop it with a loud groan.

"Code Nine maneuvers. Go!" Jack ordered as everyone split, running from the approaching Cyberwoman. Gwen however stood like a statue just right in the way of the Cyberwoman's march.

"Gwen!" Jack called from somewhere behind her, as they all half stopped worrying over their teammate (she needed some real training, not just a quick tutorial with the guns, a REAL training. Evie will probably have to do it too).

"Gwen! Get out of there!" Jack yelled again, more desperately now. But Lisa was just there, had almost reached their wayward teammate.

"Lisa!" Owen yelled from near the stairs to the upper floor. Lisa seemed to take the bait and turned to look over at Owen, "What you waiting for?"

"Gwen!" Jack yelled again with a look on his face saying that she was supposed to go running in his general direction. Gwen did so as Owen made his way up the stairs and across the upper floor to the conference room.

"She's coming after us," Gwen said as they closed both doors into the conference room, and rested for a moment to catch their collective breaths.

"There's a surprise," Owen said leaning on the table.

"Okay, less sarcasm more brainstorming," Evie ordered looking between Gwen and Owen, who were liable to start arguing again at any moment.

"Okay, now, this is a fight to the death. We do whatever is necessary to destroy her. Forget what Ianto said. That thing is not human. Clear?" Jack instructed looking from one face to another as they all nodded. Jack grabbed a device out of his pocket and slid it across the desk to Tosh, who looked at it curiously before picking it up.

"What's this?" Tosh asked holding it up to look at it properly. Evie got a good look at it and recognized it as a device that opened locks that Suzie had found right about the same time that Evie started at Torchwood.

"Something Suzie scavenged last year. She claimed that it could open any lock in 45 seconds. I want you out the exit gates up the emergency stairs to reception," Jack explained. Then it came to Evie, Tosh was being sent on a semi-suicidal run in order to save the rest of their asses. It made her feel a bit guilty, she should probably be the one running, but Tosh was better with devices, and circuits. Evie could do all the math and physics problems in the world and never have to look up an equation (and if fact she had often made up her own), but she always needed her little Torchwood computer to tell her how to take apart and put things back together. It was a good thing she had picked up guns and hand-to-hand so fast.

"She'll never open that door without power! It weighs a ton!" Owen argued not grasping exactly what Tosh was supposed to be doing.

"Anyway, I'm not leaving you here!" Tosh argued loudly over the fading sound of Owen's last word.

"Just do as I say! All of you!" Jack yelled to shut them all up, "Once in reception ... panel next to the desk, pull it out." Jack then grabbed two containers on the other side of the room, and half handed, half tossed them to the petite woman, "Take circuit 357 from the main system and patch it to these. There should be enough power in there for what we need. Once the main circuit goes live, get out. Meet us by the water tower." When Tosh hesitated (Lisa almost to the door) Jack shouted again, "GO!"

As Tosh left Jack turned back to the other three. Evie had a feeling they were off on a mission to save their own asses, and be out of the way in case Lisa killed him and he had to come back to life.

"You three ... find anything that even resembles a weapon." Jack ordered. Yep, that sounded like 'I need you three out of the way, so you're in no danger of dying but I can't let you know that because you would get indignant, and we almost need to do it anyway' to Evie.

"Uh ... autopsy room. There should be some lethal equipment there," Owen offered hesitantly.

"The storage room behind the kitchen," Evie said promptly, and everyone looked at her oddly, "I keep a cache of weapons and survival equipment there for situations such as these." Evie explained and at Jack's stern look added, "It's password protected!"

"What are you gonna do?" Gwen asked looking at Jack. She apparently hadn't gotten the hidden message. But that's okay, because that's what the hidden message was for, so Gwen wouldn't get it.

"Buy you some time. GO!" Jack ordered and the other three went running out of the door opposite the one where Lisa was about to enter. They split at the bottom of the stairs, Owen went to the autopsy bay while Gwen and Evie went running in the opposite direction for the storage room. They didn't even pause until they had made it behind their greenhouse and to the door.

Through the whole flight over they could hear Jack's yelling at Lisa, and then there was a sound like electricity. Then a shout for Owen, and a pause except for Lisa's footsteps, then another shout, then another electric sound. By the time they had reached the storage room Gwen was sobbing and Evie had to shove her into the darkened room.

"Hush," Evie told her, "Remember. Jack doesn't die. He'll be fine. Owen is crafty, he'll be fine too. Plus he's the one who said there was deadly equipment in the autopsy bay. It'll all be fine."

Gwen just looked at Evie stupidly for a moment before coming to her senses a bit and getting up off the floor.

"Come on, there's a box back here that's wooden. It's painted blue," Evie ordered as she started moving boxes away from the one she had hidden.

"I thought you said it was password protected," Gwen protested already having caught on that secrets at Torchwood were a bad idea.

"Well…" Evie hedged for a moment moving a large cardboard box, "It's got a combination lock anyway." Evie finally pulled out a large and sturdy blue trunk. There were three locks along the opening, and complex looking latches on the other two sides, "See, old fashioned password protected." Cranking the three dials quickly she lifted the locks (all three looking completely different) off and dropped them to the ground next to her. Then she made some random sequence of pulls, shoves, and lifts on each of the two latches before finally lifting the lid.

Inside was a collection of basic guns, and all the ammo needed for them. Then there was the collection of odd alien objects, some looked like guns, but others didn't look like anything Gwen had probably ever encountered. So Gwen was given three guns and a pile of bullets, while Evie lifted out a gun-like alien object, one that looked like an old sword, except it seemed to be sized for a child, and lastly a round piece of metal, that was set in a piece of leather, with straps to bind the contraption onto an arm. Then she strapped the band onto her right arm.

But then she paused looking into the trunk. She paused a long moment longer than Gwen wanted to wait.

"What are you looking at?" Gwen asked irritably.

"I…lost this," Evie said lifting out a necklace from the trunk, "My brother gave it to me. I wore it everyday until the chain started to wear. Then I only wore it every once in a while. I must have worn it the day that I packed this trunk."

"Well, let's lock this back and go then!" Gwen said shutting the trunk heavily. Somehow the latches closed themselves perfectly, and Gwen wouldn't have been able to open the trunk back if she had wanted to. The two of them put the locks back on the trunk and taking their weapons came running out of the room, only to find Owen trying to manhandle Ianto onto the lift, while Jack held Lisa off with a blowtorch, and what looked like a the squeeze bottle for Mfanwy's barbeque sauce.

They rushed onto the platform just as Jack was saying, "I've told you! We're past that! Hold him back!" Jack ordered Owen, and now Gwen and Evie as they had rejoined the party just in time.

"What are you gonna do?" Gwen asked gripping one of Ianto's arms as she squeezed back to the edge of the lift, so Jack could get on when he was done with Lisa.

"Don't ask questions, just get him on there and hold him!" Jack ordered and they did as he said. Ianto was not happy. And was certainly trying his hardest to get off the lift.

"Shut up, Ianto! Shambling corpse of someone you love. It's not her!" Evie yelled grabbing him around his center and standing behind him as Gwen held his right arm, and Owen his left. As Evie as Evie was yelling at Ianto Jack squirted all the bottle's contents onto Lisa.

"What is that stuff?" Gwen asked struggling with Ianto's arm.

"Kind of a barbecue sauce. It helps it identify its food," Jack explained.

"She," Evie corrected.

"Help what identify its food?" Gwen asked incredulously. No one felt much like explaining, but they all understood. Jack shut off the blowtorch and set it on the ground before sqeezing up in front of Gwen. Then he looked over at Ianto with a look of such infinite sadness.

"I'm sorry," Jack said with a tiny shake of his head before he opened the wristband and touched a few buttons. Mfanwy made a screech high above them, and no one could resist the urge to look up at her. It wasn't everyday you saw a pterodactyl diving for it's dinner (except when you work at Torchwood).

"Come on Tosh, hurry up," Jack muttered as Ianto let out his outrage and made another try to get free of his restraints in the form of Owen, Gwen, and Evie.

"You'll kill her!" Ianto screamed leaning forward in Evie's hold. Mfanwy swooped down and went for Lisa, and Ianto's struggles were multiplied tenfold, "Let me go! Let me help her!"

"Hold him still!" Jack ordered loudly. Tosh had apparently gotten the power working for the lift and the lift began to rise.

"NO-O-O-O!" Ianto was obviously anguished as they began their ascent.

"Call it off her! You can do that!" Ianto pleaded with Jack, and Evie had to avert her eyes as Mfanwy got the best of Lisa in their fight. It didn't matter that she wasn't really human anymore, or that she wanted to kill the lot of them. She still looked human, and Evie didn't want to see what Mfanwy would do to her.

"Have some fucking mercy!" Ianto begged, "NO-O-O!"

They finally made it to the top and Evie, Gwen, and Owen released Ianto, who brushed away from them as fast as he could with a teary glare for all of them. Tosh came running across the Plass to meet them at the base of the water tower.

"It worked! What happened to ... ?" Tosh asked looking around at their group. Jack shook his head and Evie found herself fiddling with the necklace in her pocket. Maybe she could just carry it in her pocket from now on? No, it would make more sense to get a new chain now that she had some money. After her couple of shopping splurges she had gone and saved whatever extra she had after the necessities (into two categories: one for non-necessities which would come up between paychecks, and a larger one for emergencies).

"No" Jack said simply panting a little. Although, really why was he panting now when he wasn't just a moment before? Was he putting on a show for Tosh? Because she should have had first-row seats to him dying distracting Lisa.

Ianto turned suddenly and took a fast step (which was slightly lunge-like) towards Jack, at which point he punched him hard in the face.

"You could have saved her!" Ianto yelled before he took his swing at Jack. Which was apparently strong enough to make Jack stumble back a step. Gwen and Evie both grabbed Ianto to pull him back, while Owen stood by Jack to hold him back if he needed to be.

"You're worse than anything locked up down there! One day, I'll have the chance to save you ... and I'll watch you suffer and die," Ianto threatened a truly feral look on his face.

"It was the only thing that would stop her!" Jack cried back across the space enforced between them. Then Tosh ran up closer to Jack. Yeah, that's never good.

"Listen, when I was at reception, I managed to trip the lockdown timer. The power should be coming back on any second. We can get back in," Tosh said with this look in her eye like she had just done the best thing ever. So off goes Ianto running for the tourist entrance. Jack and Evie called after him before the whole group took off after him. Evie was not very happy with Tosh.

Sure, Evie looked the petite Japanese woman, but when she takes the initiative something usually goes wrong. She's a genius with computers, and she's fantastic with alien tech, but she just can't be trusted to make a correct decision in a tight situation, especially where there is some kind of moral right or wrong involved.

"Ianto! Stop!" Evie cried after him, when Jack's call had no effect earlier. Ianto ahead of them slowed for just a fraction of a second, like he was thinking of listening to her, but he kept onwards.

"She can't have survived that attack," Gwen argued as they ran. Why they were all bothering was a mystery to Evie, she just wanted to catch Ianto before he got himself killed. That's why Evie was in the lead of their little pack, somehow Gwen and Owen were closer behind her than Tosh and Jack, who she would have expected to be right on her heels.

"I used my initiative! I'm sorry!" Tosh cried out sounding half-traumatized. Jack had probably given her one of his ice-blue glares. It wasn't unusual to be traumatized after that.

"When I want you to think for yourself, I'll tell you," Jack replied curtly.

"Maybe if you'd told me your plan, I wouldn't have done it!" Tosh replied getting her head back in order. Ahead of them Ianto didn't stop when he reached the shop, he just barreled in and Evie had a strange moment of seeing his running into the counter in her mind's eye, but when they got into the building they found that nothing like that had happened.

Although, he did obviously reach the desk because he had gotten a gun from somewhere before opening the door down to the hub. The gun was pointed right as Jack. Which was interesting, because Ianto actually liked Jack nowadays. Maybe it was just because he was so mean earlier…but then he should be pointing the gun at Evie…Maybe he didn't want to shoot a girl?

"Ianto, don't be stupid!" Gwen ordered not even reaching for her own gun(s…she still had three from the trunk, they probably should have distributed those, but they were a little busy running after Ianto).

"I've nothing left to lose," Ianto said his face somehow looking heartbroken, while looking like he actually wanted to shoot something. While that would usually be a good idea, to shoot something, it's only a good idea if you're going to use the range.

"There's always something left to lose," Jack told him completely seriously. And Evie felt herself agreeing. And coming from a girl who had lost just about everything (including her own self-knowledge) that was pretty impressive. Ianto's gun however, had found its target more steadily; Jack's head.

"I'm going back in to save her. Anybody tries to stop me, I'll shoot them," Ianto threatened. While Gwen, Owen, or Tosh might have believed the empty threat, there was no chance that Evie or Jack would. Evie knew Ianto far too well, and Jack had seen too many people in general, and fought too often to not to know when someone could kill, and when someone couldn't.

"Ianto…you know you won't. _I_ know you won't, and I'm pretty sure –" The last line of what Evie was going to say was cut off by Jack jumping forward and grabbing Ianto's wrist before twisting it behind the Welshman and pushing him against the wall, so he was disarmed and stuck, "Thank you, Captain Hasty." Evie added sarcastically folding her arms over her chest as Jack held his own gun to Ianto's face.

"You make a threat like that, you better be prepared to follow it through. See, you disobey me now ... I really will shoot you," Jack told him making Evie ready to hit the captain, whether he was in the middle of saving their asses or not.

"Get off me!" Ianto said bucking under Jack's weight trying to force him off. Unfortunately for Ianto, Jack was bigger and stronger than he was, it was the difference from being a field agent versus an archivist.

No one moved to help Ianto. This was the Captain's fight, and everyone recognized it as such. It didn't matter how any of them felt about Ianto and his betrayal, or how they thought the situation should be handled, this was Jack's command, Jack's team, and so it was Jack's punishment of the betrayer.

"You wanna go back in there? You go in to finish the job. If she's still alive, you execute her," Jack ordered his face only inches from Ianto's.

"No way," Ianto said with what was probably supposed to be a shake of the head, but his face was a little bit stuck to the doorframe, and movement was limited.

"You brought this down on us. You hid her. You hid yourself from us. Now it's time for you to stand as part of the team," Jack told him, and Evie understood. Like Evie herself Jack was as hurt as much by the fact that Ianto hadn't told them what had happened to Lisa as he was about him hiding her in the basement.

"Jack..." Gwen said reaching for Jack's shoulder. But Evie grabbed her hand back with a shake of her head.

"The girl you loved has gone. Your loyalty is to us now," Jack told him repeating what Evie had already told the quiet coffee-boy.

"You can't order me to do that," Ianto protested sounding like there were probably tears in his eyes again. Or maybe they never left? That was always a possibility.

"You execute her or I'll execute you both!" Jack growled releasing Ianto from the wall.

"I won't do it. You can't make me. You like to think you're a hero. But you're the biggest monster of all," Ianto said nastily enough that Evie considered checking to make sure Owen was still alive. But no, Ianto couldn't be channeling Owen, because he was standing right next to Tosh in the back (or front maybe) of the room.

"I'm giving you ten minutes. Then we're coming in," Jack told him standing stoically in the middle of the room. Ianto turned to look at his other teammates, but Owen, Gwen, and Tosh don't react, while Evie only gave him a little shake of the head. The message was clear, 'we can't do anything for you. Go do what you have to.'

"Pick it up," Jack ordered looking at Ianto's gun on the floor. Ianto picked it up before looking at them all again. Then he turned and disappeared down the corridor to try one last time to save Lisa, before he would be forced to do the inevitable.

"How can you ask him...?" Tosh started a question looking at the spot where Ianto had been only seconds before.

"I don't need your opinion!" Jack snapped before settling back against the wall.

It was a very long ten minutes.

But when it was over, it wasn't Jack who led them back into the hub, nor was it Ms. Bleeding Hearts, Gwen. It wasn't even Tosh who had been so concerned just a few minutes ago. It was Evie who raced through the corridors to try and save Ianto a little pain. Spare him whatever she could.

Evie had come to a realization in those ten minutes. Even though Ianto had betrayed them, he had done it for love. And while it was true that the road to hell was paved with good intentions, Evie couldn't condemn him because it was clear through every line of his body that he loved Lisa, and would always love Lisa some piece of his heart was going to die the moment Lisa's body did, because until that moment it was kept alive with hope and faith.

Evie might never be able to trust Ianto again, but he would always be the man who had filled the place her brother had left vacant. He was like the perfect brother. Maybe a twin brother, neither of them felt the need to be protective every moment. But in the big moments. The moments that counted…the other was always there to shield the pain.

So when Evie reached the hallway leading to the door where Lisa had been for the better part of the last year, she slowed and got there just as Ianto lowered his gun and began sobbing. He had been truly intending to do what needed to be done, but he just couldn't shoot the girl Lisa had killed, trying to be with him forever.

"Lisa!" Ianto cried out turning from the poor girl, with a line of blood across her forehead, where the terrible machine had cut her open.

"We can be upgraded ... together," The girl said as Tosh, Gwen, Jack, and Owen all took aim with their guns at the girl. Evie lifted her own gun half-heartedly for a moment before steadying her arm. Then they fired.

It wasn't just one shot. It was series of shots, and it seemed to go on forever as Ianto turned, in what seemed like slow-motion only to see his teammates all lined up, shooting bullet after bullet into the woman his had loved, and tried to save for so very long.

Finally it ended.

Lisa was dead, and her eyes, glazed in death, were focused on Ianto's still form now staring at her. The guns were all lowered as Ianto sank to his knees and sobbed. There was a long moment before everyone started back up to the hub. Gwen was the first to leave, her bleeding heart not letting her stay a moment longer. Then Owen, he had some kind of trauma in his past, and Evie supposed he couldn't stand it any longer either. Tosh followed, awkward, and seeming to wish things had all been different, that Lisa had survived Canary Wharf the same way Ianto had, or that her body had died that day, so that Ianto could have mourned properly.

Then it was just Evie and Jack still in the doorway. Jack touched Evie's shoulder briefly, in a sign of support. He knew that Evie was going to stay, help Ianto get the mess cleaned up, and try to help him stay sane. Then the weight on her shoulder was gone, and it was just Evie, and Ianto and two corpses.

_**XX**_

That day Evie and Ianto did all of the cleanup. Every piece of cyber technology was destroyed. Not just dismantled, but completely destroyed until there was nothing more than warped metal and a few bits of melted plastic left. They did all this in silence after the two bodies were placed in the morgue, and then they scrubbed the blood from the floor as best they could.

It finally reached the point when there was nothing left to do, and the sun had long since reached back over the horizon. That was when Ianto broke down sobbing again, and Evie held him close as he let out everything he had been holding in that whole time.

"I tried," Ianto finally got out between sobs, "I tried so hard to save her."

"I know," Evie said cradling his head in her arms, "I wouldn't have expected anything else from you. Your heart is too big, and to beautiful for you to do anything but try to save her with all your might and ability."

"You hate me," Ianto said several long moments later as his sobs started to fade.

"If I hated you would I be holding you as you cried?" Evie asked rhetorically, "I can't forgive you for never telling me. But I can forgive your action, and someday…I might forget that I couldn't forgive you, and forgive you anyway." The last got a quick, hiccup-y laugh from Ianto. But that set him off crying more.

"I forgive you for wanting to shoot me," Ianto finally said pulling out of Evie's grip a little.

"I'll accept that trade," Evie said with a smile stretching out her hand. Ianto took it hesitantly, and they made their way back up into the hub, closer than before, now that both of them could define how they felt, and could deal with Ianto's betrayal.

_**XX**_

Hours later after Ianto had tried to sleep and woken from nightmares, then gotten back to work, Evie found herself in Jack's office, with aforementioned leader of Torchwood.

"You wouldn't have shot him and we both know it," Evie announced after a long time of silence as Jack watched out the window at Ianto still looking for things to clean.

"I'm not sure about that," Jack admitted without taking his eyes from the Welshman downstairs.

"But I am," Evie told him forcing the man to look at her, "You couldn't have done it because we're not your team. We're your family. Owen is like the annoying little brother you can never get to do what he's supposed to, and Gwen is the sentimental older sister, completely unable to distance herself from a situation. Ianto is the formal, and slightly distant brother who just can't relate to you because you live such different lives. Tosh is the little sister everyone feels the need to protect, not only from the world, but sometimes from herself."

"And where do you fit?" Jack asked catching onto the analogy.

"I'm the girl next door," Evie said with a grin, "I grew up with you and I practically live at your house. I know all your secret vices and virtues. The kind of girl next door who knew before you did who your first crush was, and teased you mercilessly for. But when she left, or died, or dumped you, I was the one you called first, even before your family. Before you even knew you needed to talk."

"That's not a family member," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm better than family," Evie said grinning and rustling Jack's hair before leaving.

_**XX**_

"Evie!" Gwen called after the other woman as she was leaving the hub, in the early afternoon. It was a little late for lunch, but Evie was getting lunch and a few hours sleep before going to visit Ianto (who had been sent home an hour earlier, and told he was being suspended for the next two weeks), and therefore about to leave for the day.

"Yes, Gwen?" Evie asked turning back.

"Do you want to eat lunch with me?" Gwen asked, obviously wanting a good sentimental conversation.

"Sure," Evie agreed before leading her across the Plass, "There's a little café on my way home I was going to stop at for lunch. They don't have a lot of food, but they make really good sub sandwiches."

"That sounds good," Gwen admitted. The two women walked in silence a little ways before Gwen finally asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Evie told her with a little smile, "I've figured out a couple of things from this whole mess. Ianto…you realize everything he did was because he just can't stop loving right?"

"Yeah, I think I caught that bit," Gwen admitted, probably wondering where Evie was taking this conversation.

"Well, I've realized that while a very big piece of his heart will always belong to Lisa, his heart just gets bigger for each person he lets it, and someday it will seem like a little bitty piece compared to the other people in his life," Evie told the older woman, somehow seeming ages older than Gwen, "And Ianto let me take a little piece and make it my own. He's like my brother. Not like an older brother trying to protect me, or a little brother I need to protect, but like a twin, and absolute equal. And so I'm trying to ease his pain, trying to make it easier. Not less. Never less. The pain he feels…he has to feel it, because without the pain of grief and heartbreak, we're not human. So Ianto needs his twin to help him through things."

"It that how you feel about us? As your siblings?" Gwen asked sounding truly curious.

"Yeah. You're like an older sister. I can talk to you, I can trust you to understand, an sympathize, and protect me when I need a protector. Owen is like a spoiled younger brother. He needs and he needs and he needs and the only way to deal with him is to tease him and wheedle him into doing what he has to. And I protect him, he doesn't protect me like you do. And Tosh. Tosh is like a little sister, she's sweet and innocent, and sometimes she doesn't understand the danger of her own actions, or those of others. She needs to be protected, like Owen," Evie explained just as they got to the café. The conversation took a pause as they ordered and sat down. And by the time Gwen had gotten situated she had forgotten their thread of conversation, and she started another one.

"So, Tosh was telling me about this one when…" And Gwen and Evie spent the rest of their lunch talking about old stories, things which had happened ages ago, and they didn't mention the events of the last 24 hours at all.

_**XX**_

_**So, This chapter is a bit shorter than the last ones, but so much of this episode was Ianto sneaking about with the doctor he brought in.**_

_**So I left two separate hints at Evie's past in this chapter. Cudos to anyone who catches both and puts them together with my past hints and figures out the answer. However, I won't tell you yet if you got it right…Yeah, because I'm going to reveal Evie's secret at the end of season 1 (or the beginning of season 2, I haven't decided the exact moment yet).**_

_**Also, this chapter is dedicated to BiJane, because she has such good ideas! She was begging me to 'save the coffee boy' and actually gave me a good idea for something to do later. Also, she said that she loved the nicknames, and I brought a couple back into this chapter, just for her. That and she has such useful and amusing rambles. I like to think I've found a bit of a twin in the rambling department…**_

_**Oo! Like Evie found a twin in Ianto!**_

_**Yeah, the last three conversations were there only to set up the relationship for the romance focused bit of the story, which starts next chapter. Yay! Well, and so that Ianto and Evie could get everything out in the air, because Evie **_**REALLY**_** wanted to shoot him in the foot, and that kind of anger should be avoided. Well, for long periods of time at least. **_

_**They needed a little forgiveness talk. **_

_**Well, that's everything. Please send me a review to tell me what you think. This episode was very hard to write because there's a lot of action and not a lot of dialogue for Evie to have a running commentary on, so I'd like to know how I did.**_

_**P.S. If anyone is interested, my current avatar is a picture I did in photoshop of Evie, if that helps anyone to have a visual on her.**_


	5. Family, Romance, and Alien Puffs of Gas

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is in between episode 4 and episode 5, Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is somewhere unknown, it won't come up again for a while.**_

_**XX**_

"So, Ianto, how's your break treating you?" Evie asked as the Welshman opened the door.

It had been a full week since the Lisa incident, and Evie had shown up at Ianto's door at some point during the day, all seven days. Even when she was completely sleep deprived that first night after and she ended up sleeping on Ianto's couch all night. This evening she had come bearing food. It was just Chinese takeout, but she had remember to get him sesame chicken and fried rice, which is what he always ordered himself, and it was from the good Chinese takeout place, that was further from the hub, and so they got less often.

"The same as yesterday," Ianto replied taking the bag from her hands, "I'm bored."

"Well, if you're still bored you haven't died yet," Evie said stepping into Ianto's little apartment. Ianto lived only a few blocks from Evie, because that was the area where rent was cheapest, and when they moved to Cardiff (or back to Cardiff in Ianto's case) they were both tight for cash, and needed a cheap place. But like Evie, Ianto had made the little flat all his own.

It was clean and tidy, but not in an insane 'I have a very good maid' kind of way, but in a 'I prefer not to live in my own filth, and I happen to like being able to find my things' sort of way. The whole place was done up in greens and yellows, which sort of suited Ianto's personality. It was warm and earthy, without being dirty, messy, or cluttered. The furniture, was of a slightly higher grade than Evie's, but he hadn't gone spending his money on books like she had, and it was all warm browns and woods. Ianto had redone the kitchen shortly after he got the job at Torchwood. He had once told Evie 'it was the first to go,' with such a look of disgust on his face that Evie had truly wanted to know what kinds of horrors had been hidden in the tiny room. Now it had nice new appliances, and clean butcher block counters (which Evie suspected was cheaper than granite and easier to clean than tile), but the staring glory of the kitchen was the fancy coffee making…thing. It looked like it cost as much as the rest of the kitchen combined, and it probably had. When it came to Ianto's coffee, he went all out.

"I suppose you have a point," Ianto admitted taking out plates from his cupboard. The first time Evie had eaten dinner at Ianto's place she had been surprised by his plates. Somehow she expected he would have just plain white plates, or they would have a plain black trim or something. But these plates of his were bright and vibrant…and flowery. Ianto had finally admitted three days ago that Lisa had picked out the plates when they first moved in together, then he had started sobbing and their dinner had gone cold.

"I always have a point," Evie said with a grin.

"But you hardly ever know what it is!" Ianto returned with a grin almost as bright as it would have been before Lisa died. Evie suspected that grin had been even brighter before Canary Wharf, but there was no way to be sure it would ever return to that point.

"You jerk," Evie laughed grabbing her takeout container.

"Ah, but I'm not as big a jerk as you," Ianto said with a half joking bow to Evie. Who then threw her chopsticks at him. And missed. "I'm not picking those up for you."

"I didn't really expect you to," Evie said with a wholly fake sigh, before walking around behind Ianto and retrieving the chopsticks herself.

"How's life at the hub these days?" Ianto asked a minute later after they had sat down with Chinese in front of them.

"Not bad," Evie started before taking a short pause, "Gwen's been going on about something about the police force. Don't ask me what I wasn't really paying attention. An alien book (according to Jack it's a book at least), well it fell through the rift, so Tosh has been trying to work on a translation software based on the contents of the book. It seems to be going slowly, but that's because Tosh doesn't know exactly what the book's about yet. Owen hasn't had much work to do, so he's been leaving early to get drunk and coming in late, hungover. I've been trying to stop it all, but he won't listen to me!"

"And Jack?" Ianto asked after a moment. Evie had rather obviously been avoiding the captain.

"He's being Jack. He had some calls to make with UNIT and some other group over in America. Big-wigs, you know the kind of call. He spends a lot of time in his office, he didn't join us for lunch today, said he was going out. I'm a bit worried about him. I've never seen him this messed up before, not even after Suzie," Evie admitted looking over to Ianto with a pleading expression. It wasn't as if he could actually do anything at the moment, he still had another week of suspension, but he could make her feel better.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Ianto said in his 'of course it isn't really alright, but does my saying it make you feel better?' voice.

"Yeah…you're probably right," Evie said before changing the topic to some book she had recently found in a used book store that she insisted that Ianto would love.

_**XX**_

"You're giving everyone the day off, but you won't tell them because you want to stay the stern captain even though we all know you're a cuddly bear at heart anyway?" Evie asked incredulously the next day after lunch. Jack had asked her to come up to discuss some budget problems, which was obvious code for 'I need to talk to you in private, and I'd really appreciate you not letting the others know it's a private conversation.'

"Well, sort of," Jack admitted, "It's supposed to be a slow next week and a half, and no one has any real work to do anyway. I figured everyone should just take the day off."

"Yeah, translation: I have something important to do I would rather you all not be in the hub for, and I happen to have a good excuse," Evie replied folding her arms over her chest and staring at Jack, who slumped because she had gotten it just right.

"Can't you let me have my delusions?" Jack asked sadly.

"Sorry no," Evie told him with a little shake of the head, "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"I…" Jack started like he was planning to protest, then he seemed to change his mind, and the words that came out of his mouth were, "I was going to bring my grandson in. He's sick. My daughter doesn't think it's major but I just wanted to check him over, make sure everything's fine."

"I can understand why you're kicking everyone out then," Evie admitted slightly stunned that he had a daughter and a grandson, "Do you mind if I stay though? I can hide in the archives if you like. I just have a few things I want to work on. Theoretical physics, far above your head kinds of things. I don't have a very good computer at home, so it's really easier to do here."

"…Yeah," Jack said after a long pause sounding half reluctant to allow it, and after another, shorter (yet still long) pause he said, "and you can stay at your desk. I doubt Alice will mind you there."

"I can do that then," Evie said with a wide smile, "I'll go kick the other out then. I'm going to give Owen a speech first though, make sure he eats lunch before getting hopelessly drunk."

"Yes, please do. He's a horror hung over, and we don't even have Ianto's coffee to soften the grump," Jack said with a look of relief on his face. He had probably been worried over his grandson, and therefore had not time to reprimand Owen for being hung over every day that week.

"I'm off then," Evie said getting up and leaving Jack's office.

_**XX**_

Two hours later everyone but Evie and Jack had left. Evie was working busily on a new theory, that she thought might be true, and could give another option to the whole time-travel thesis bit. She was going to have to do a few experiments later, but they could wait until she had worked out the basis for the labs.

That was when she saw the lights flash behind her and heard the cog door opening. Jack came running down from hi office faster than Evie had seen him move since the last time Tosh had accidently almost set off a bomb.

"Uncle Jack!" Came little boy's voice, Evie turned curiously to see a little blond boy, only five or six. He let off a little cough after calling to Jack.

"Hey Steven!" Jack said grabbing the boy into a huge hug. It was obvious that it bothered him that his grandson called him 'Uncle Jack' instead of some grandfatherly name. But Evie could understand why. Jack looked about the same age as his daughter, proving beyond doubt that he really didn't age.

"Hello," The woman said calmly, presumably she was Alice the mysterious daughter. It was a moment before Evie realized that Alice hadn't been addressing Jack (who was still wrapped up in his grandson), but rather Evie herself.

"Oh, hello. Sorry," Evie said standing up, "I'm Eveleen Smith." Evie said offering her hand to the older woman.

"Evie!" Jack called over in spite.

"Jerk!" Evie called back as Alice took her hand, "Sorry, I'm the only one who can deal with him and get him to behave. I offered to hide while you were here, so I wouldn't get in the way, but Jack said to just stay at my desk."

"I see," Alice said looking from Jack (acting like he was only a little older than Steven), to Evie, who was the picture of innocent and mature curiosity, "What are you working on?"

"Oh, I'm attempting to prove that time doesn't move in a linear fashion, and we only perceive it as such because humans need a logical and organized way of thinking about time. But if it functioned like a ball, or a pond, then it would make much more sense, and it actually would make it impossible for a paradox. Well, unless you touch your past self or something, but I don't think anyone would actually be that stupid," Evie explained pointing to her screens full of equations. Alice stared at the mix of symbols, letters, and numbers uncomprehendingly.

"If you say so," Alice said politely before turning to her father, "Since you were so terribly concerned, why don't we do your checks on Steven's health?"

"Right, right through here," Jack said gesturing them through to the autopsy room. He nodded slightly to Evie and disappeared down the stairs. Evie turned around and went back to work.

_**XX**_

"Hi!," A little boy's voice said from behind Evie. It must be Steven, but what was he doing up here.

"Hello," Evie greeted turning to look at the boy, "What are you doing up here with me and my science? Why aren't you downstairs with Uncle Jack and your Mam?"

"Uncle Jack said I could ask you to play with me. He has to do something with Mummy," Steven said coming right up to Evie's desk and looking over the edge. He looked at the desktop for a minute before looking at Evie with clear disappointment. One Evie's desk there was her keyboard, he mouse, a stack of books, and empty mug, and dusting rag Evie used to keep her screens clean. The only non-functional items were two pictures. One of Evie with Aethelred, just before she started university, and one of the team she had insisted on taking shortly after Gwen started to replace the picture had with Suzie as part of the team.

"Sorry, my desk isn't very much fun is it?" Evie asked looking down at Steven, "Come here. Sit in my lap and we can play a game on my computer." Evie then saved her work and closed it up. Steven climbed into her lap a little awkwardly. He wasn't particularly small for five, and Evie was a fairly small person (not tiny like Tosh, but a little smaller than average). As Steven made himself comfortable Evie opened up the only game she had allowed on her computer. It was a matching game with levels, and it was a good distraction during breaks.

So Steven and Evie played while Jack had a private conversation with his daughter.

It was well over another hour before Jack and Alice came up to find that Steven was playing the game while Evie held him around his waist and half dozed behind him. It was a rather cute scene, and neither of the other two adults worried about Steven's safety, because Evie had a band on her arm, which increased awareness, reflexes, and strength in whoever was wearing it. Evie would notice the moment Steven so much as shifted to get off her lap.

"Evie?" Jack asked making the blond turn her head slowly to look at her commanding officer.

"Hello, Jack," Evie said with a lazy grin.

"What's up with you, I don't think I've ever seen you this relaxed," Jack commented as Steven finally turned from his game with a sniffle.

"Mmm, well I'm just enjoying the company. Steven's a really bright kid. I showed him how the game worked and less than a minute later he was breaking all my high scores. He could do well somewhere someday. He notices things. He asked me what my armband was for, and why I didn't have any toys like on Owen's desk," Evie told Jack as Alice retrieved Steven, "Also, I figure it's a bad cold, or the flu. His fever is mild, and all he has is a cough and a little bit of a sniffle."

"You're right," Alice commented as Steven protested mildly at being carried like a baby, "He's very bright, and the tests say it's just the flu. He should be over it in a few more days."

Evie gave the older woman a grin and kissed Steven's head, "You're welcome to come play a game with me whenever." Evie offered the little boy, before looking at Alice, "While I'm not always available because of this job, I'll be happy to be a babysitter if I'm off and you need some time to yourself. Please, take me up on my offer sometime. I don't have a social life, I work and I sleep. I don't drink, not even coffee. I could do with something outside work."

"I might do that. Give me a call when you have some time off and I'll see if I need a little help," Alice accepted before shooting her father a mild glare and a curt goodbye. Then they were gone as if they hadn't been there.

_**XX**_

"You should go home," Jack told Evie two days later when she was working late on a device that had fallen through the rift that morning. Tosh hadn't been feeling well, and had left work early, and Evie had taken over on studying the device.

"I was mostly waiting till everyone else had gone home. I wanted to talk you about the other day," Evie admitted turning her chair around to get a good look at the captain.

"Oh," Jack said looking disappointed. He rather obviously hadn't wanted to talk about it, but it was something he was going to have to talk about eventually anyway.

"Why was Alice so cold to you? You obviously have a strained relationship, and you rather successfully used Steven's flu as an excuse to see them," Evie told him idly tracing the edge of the device on the desk next to her.

"She thinks my job is too dangerous. Her mom told her how bad it could be, and she took it to heart. Then there's the fact that she's not comfortable with the fact that I don't age. She's horrible concerned that she's my daughter but she looks like she as old, or almost as old, as I do," Jack admitted in a voice that almost sounded like he was being forced by something to tell her.

"There's nothing you can do to repair the relationship?" Evie asked sadly.

"No, I don't think so. I've tried for years, but her mom denied me visits to see her when she was little. She didn't grow up with me, or around me. All she had were stories, rather skewed against me until she was fifteen and tracked me down because she wanted to give me a piece of her mind," Jack said smiling fondly at the last bit.

"No wonder I like her," Evie mentioned feeling oddly absent. It felt as though her mind had wandered off somewhere and all was left was a vague echo of her personality.

"Yeah," Jack murmured sounding distracted. Evie looked over at him properly and the world spun for a moment and she gripped onto the alien device, because it was close to her hand. Then there was a puff of some kind of gas, which smelled vaguely flowery and everything got very vague…

_**XX**_

Several hours later Evie woke up on the hub couch feeling oddly lightheaded. Evie looked around to notice that there was no one else in the hub, so it was still evening, or possibly late at night, and slightly less likely very early in the morning. Evie shifted to get comfortable and realized that there was something suspiciously warm wrapped around her middle, and her clothes had gone mysteriously missing.

Then she realized that the last thing she remembered was asking Jack about his daughter, then things got vague until they finally ended with the smell of flowers. Thus, it was unluckily probably Jack laying behind her on the little couch. How they both fit was a complete mystery, but one Evie probably didn't want to solve. In fact she should probably find her clothes and leave and let jack just wonder about what on earth had happened the night before.

Too late.

Jack was stirring and he was making the cutest little yawning sound.

"Oh?" Finally came out of his mouth as he realized he had no room to move. Then Evie felt him shift again, and there was his face, looking over her at her face, "I slept with Evie? Well, that's a new one even for me."

"What?" Evie said turning to look at him, "That's what you say? 'that's a new one?' I'm not just any girl and you bloody well know it!" Evie said (shouted) completely incredulously.

"Well, I'm assuming the gas that came out of your little device was some kind of aphrodisiac, or an alien psychotrope. Therefore it's not that unusual to find yourself waking up with someone you don't remember sleeping with," Jack said slipping over Evie carefully so he was standing next to her. Evie carefully looked away, not wanting to see her boss naked (ignoring the fact that in all likelihood she had been treated to the same sight sometime in last couple of hours). "Ah, there's our clothes." Jack said a minute later before tossing Evie's over to her, "Get dressed, I won't look if you don't want me to."

Evie did as she was told keeping half an eye out for Jack peeking, but she never caught him.

"I'll give you a ride home," Jack offered and Evie was about to refuse when Jack added, "It has to be the middle of the night, I'm not letting you walk home. And I want you to take the day off tomorrow. Tosh can file the device when I tell her about the gas."

So Evie took an awkward ride home, avoiding looking over at Jack as he drove. When Jack stopped in front of Evie's building and practically ran all the way to her flat, and she took a very long shower, not caring that it would make her water bill higher for the month. She could afford a few extra dollars.

_**XX**_

"I don't know what to dooo!" Evie wailed theatrically to Ianto the next day. Evie had spent half the night awake, and finally fell asleep sometime around four in the morning. She then had a strange dream about dancing with Jack, and woke around ten, before getting subs and walking over to Ianto's.

"Well, I see three options. You can quit (Jack will have to either retcon or kill you), you can ignore the issue, or you can use Jack as a casual shag when you need one," Ianto told her after listening to her whole story (where she included the dancing dream).

"…I'm pretty sure option two is the only one that's really an option. But what if Jack doesn't want to ignore the issue?" Evie said after a moment of silence in which she stared at Ianto as though he were a crazy man.

"Well, there is a fourth option, but I'm pretty sure you were going to laugh at me, and ignore it," Ianto admitted calmly before taking a bite of his sub.

"What is it?" Evie asked sounding a bit desperate.

"Well, you like Jack. You think he's cute, and nice, and while you've also frequently said he's a jerk, you know him better than anyone else I know of…so why don't you try to get him to commit to a relationship?" Ianto asked looking a bit nervous about Evie's response.

"That's…that's a decent idea. You know I can't ignore anything, and I'm not about to ask to get my memory erased, and I don't do casual shags," Evie then turned a glare to Ianto, "You know all this, so why was this not in the original list?"

"Sorry, sorry, I just thought you would laugh at me. Because you know, he's our boss," Ianto said with a little placating gesture with his hand.

"Yeah, our boss who I happened to accidently shag last night. I needed the good answers Ianto!" Evie said throwing a piece of her sob at him. He just grinned and laughed at her.

Evie couldn't help but be happy that Ianto was doing better. The first couple of days everything set him off into tears, now he was mostly himself again. Granted she was sure he still cried himself to sleep, and she had seen him just stop in the middle of something to star off into space, but he was doing better.

_**XX**_

That night Evie had a good nights sleep, and for the first time in her life. She didn't dream.

She didn't know what it meant, but she was grateful. No nightmares of the things she had seen at Torchwood, no dreams of mysterious voices, no fantasy dreams of her boss. Just peace.

That was why Evie was in such a great mood when she returned to work the next day. As she came bounding in Tosh and Gwen turned to greet her while Owen made a little grunt of welcome. He must be hung over again.

"Good Morning," Evie cheered before pulling off her light jacket to reveal a new shirt she had gone and bought after leaving Ianto's flat. She had then bought a new chain for her necklace and was wearing it again.

"You're in a good mood," Tosh commented as Evie took over her side of the desk space.

"I had the best night's sleep I've had in my entire life. And I had a whole day off yesterday to get a new chain for my favorite necklace. And I went and bought a brand new shirt," Evie said grinning widely before opening up the work she had been doing before the incident with the alien device the day before last.

"You had a good day then?" Tosh asked slightly taken aback. Evie, while generally cheerful, was _never_ this happy. There was always something worrying her, or she was remembering something sad, or she was anger at Owen.

"The best," Evie replied, "Ianto says 'hi,' said he wished he could come back to work now, but as you know, Jack's not going to let him back early baring world ending emergency."

"Oh, you saw him yesterday?" Gwen asked listening in. Evie didn't really mind, that was just part of who Gwen is. She was just the type of person to listen in when her teammate was in an eerily good mood.

"I've been to see him every day of his suspension," Evie answered calmly, "He's been wired up on his own coffees for days. He's ready to come back to work. He's mostly okay."

"I'm glad to hear it," Jack said coming up behind Evie, "If I could see you in my office for a moment. If you think he's ready to come back we might shave off the last couple of days."

"Alright, give me two seconds," Evie replied slipping her shoes off. She was perhaps the only person in Torchwood to ever even think of taking their shoes off for work hours, but she did it often enough no one else really noticed anymore (plus she had stashed good running shoes in both SUVs, Jack's office, the kitchen, and at her desk).

The two walked up to Jack's office, both knowing they wouldn't speak a word about Ianto. Jack must know that Evie had issues about sleeping with the boss, and Evie knew that Jack had to have issues about sleeping with one of his techs. Especially the one he had dubbed his 'conscience.'

"About the day before yesterday," Jack started before Evie cut him off.

"Do you want to go for drinks after work today?" It was obviously a date, because Evie did not go drinking. She would order one fruity cocktail and hold a conversation as her partner slowly got drunk, at which time she would drive them home, and tuck them into bed before going home.

"…Yeah, that would be good," Jack replied catching on immediately.

"Then maybe dinner on Saturday barring world-ending disaster?" Evie offered to which Jack accepted again.

"So…you're okay with this?" Jack asked again.

"So long as I'm not just a casual shag…I'm fine. In fact, more than fine," Evie told him, "So long as you don't sleep with everything that wanders by, I don't even care how much you flirt. I'm not about to change you because I'd like a relationship."

"I'm pretty sure I can do that," Jack replied before forgetting that one whole wall of his office was windows down to the hub. In other words he leaned over and snogged her thoroughly.

At least they wouldn't have to tell the team. They already knew.

_**XX**_

_**So, this chapter is a bit shorter than most of the others, but that's because it's all completely original and there's no great adventure for them to go haring off on. **_

_**So, I know a lot of people are Ianto/Jack shippers (I will admit I am too), but for my story to make sense Evie needed to end up with Jack, and I think they're cute together too. I will not be leaving Ianto cold and lonely in the rain though. I will get him a new girlfriend. But it will be a little while, because he did JUST lose Lisa. He needs a bit of time to mourn her properly before he'll be ready to date again.**_

_**So, I brought Alice and Steven in for two reasons. One, I wanted Evie to meet them before she got involved with Jack, so she knew what she was getting into; and two, I was very attached to Steven in CoE, but I'm not sure they took enough time to really introduce him as a character and not just a cute little boy caught in a bad place, so I wanted to do so in my story.**_

_**I'm wondering if anyone had caught the slightly more than friendship feelings I was trying to build up in earlier chapters between Jack and Evie, or did I jump in too fast? If anyone thinks it was too abrupt to be realistic, I'll go back and try to bring their mutual like-which-could-become-more into the forefront more, because this was always the pairing in the works.**_

_**Well, any thoughts about the chapter (good or negative) are greatly appreciated, and I'd like to know what everyone thinks!**_


	6. Fairies and Awkward Moments

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during episode 5, Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is during The Day of the Clown (The second arc of season 2).**_

_**XX**_

"I'm glad to be back," Ianto said bringing Evie her tea.

"I'm glad you're back," Evie replied taking the mug from him, "It was a bit lonely without you."

"You had Gwen, Tosh, Owen, and _Jack_ and you say you were lonely," Ianto said sarcastically.

"Well, maybe not lonely, but I missed you being at work," Evie said with a joking glare at him.

"You need to work on your choice of words," Ianto said before wandering off in a good mood for the time being. It was very possible he'd find himself crying at some odd moment during the day, but now he was happy.

"Evie, I need to talk to you," Jack called down from his office a few minutes later.

"Oi! No shagging at work," Owen ordered looking between the two of them.

"Don't worry, this has nothing to do with us dating," Evie told Owen as she got out of her seat, "I know the tone of voice. This time it's the 'I have something to tell you privately, please don't make a big fuss right now' voice."

Owen just stared at Evie for a minute before shaking his head and getting back to whatever he was working on (or playing. Knowing Owen he was playing solitaire). Evie on the other hand made her way up to Jack's office where he had already sat back behind his desk.

"I got an invitation from an old friend of mine to a lecture she's giving. I wanted you to come with me," Jack told her which confused Evie for a moment, that had definitely not been the 'I'm asking you out on a date' voice (because frankly she had yet to hear that one. She had invited him on the three dates they had gone on).

"Really? Why?" Evie asked her brow still furrowed in mild confusion.

"Because, I need someone else to help me look at the information. Also, I wanted to introduce you to her anyway, since she has this lecture I thought you could come with me, and I could introduce you after," Jack looked truly nervous about that prospect. No wonder he hadn't mentioned it at first.

"Of course I'll come. I'm guessing you think there's work to be done because of her lecture?" Evie verified digging her toes into the weave of the rug on the floor.

"Yeah," Jack admitted looking extremely unhappy at the prospect, "And it's the kind of morally ambiguous trouble that I'll need you to keep me straight on. I've thought about bring Gwen too. But for now…just you and me. You can think of it as a date if you like?" Ah, so that's what the 'I'm asking you one a date' voice sounds like. Evie would have to remember that one for further reference, but for that moment it made her feel all glowy and warm inside.

_**XX**_

"Fairies?" Evie asked looking over at Jack as they walked up the street to the building where the lecture was, "That's not what I expected when you said 'morally ambiguous trouble'."

Evie followed Jack in, grabbing onto his hand at the last moment before they entered the building. Jack looked over at her, obviously surprised, but made absolutely no attempt to take his hand back, and that just made Evie all glowy again.

When they walked in the woman standing up front shot Jack a grin, which said she was truly glad he was there, and he sent her a wide 'Captain Jack Harkness' (aka flirting) grin back.

"And it's been no easy task. One needs to have the patience of a saint and the blind faith of a prophet," The woman up front was saying as Evie and Jack took seats near the back of the hall. There was some picture up on the screen of a girl with a bunch of little fairy-people dancing about in front of her. Evie was pretty sure it was somehow significant, but why was a bit of a mystery to her.

"But for me the long wait has been worthwhile," the woman was continuing. Jack looked over at Evie who was looking intently at the new picture. It was of a circle of stone with a couple of little glowy things floating above it. It was obviously taken at night, and the image was blurry in several places, "This is my first picture. Not that clear, I know, but the ring of stones can be seen quite distinctly."

Then the lady up front changed the picture again, to a close up of what looked like a traditional idea of what a fairy is, "Well, of course, I'm not the world's best photographer. But this little person is just about visible. I was so lucky to have seen them, so privileged to witness such a magical moment. Because fairies are shy, you see. But I know in my heart that they're friendly, loving creatures," The projector was turned off and the woman turned back to her audience saying, "Thank you."

Everyone applauded except for Jack who had crossed his arms and was looking disappointed towards the front of the room where the pictures had been projected just a moment before.

"Wrong. She always gets it wrong," Jack groused before standing up to see the woman in the front of the hall. Evie followed and after the rest of the audience had filed out Jack gave the woman a hug.

"Hello Estelle," Jack said gently. Evie got the feeling there was some kind of history between the two ,but then, if Jack was insistent that Evie should be introduced, there would have to be something.

"Jack, it's so nice to see you," Estelle replied with a wide smile that said better than her words how happy she was, "And who are you dear?"

"Eveleen Smith," Evie said extending her hand. Estelle pulled her into a hug instead.

"We all call her Evie," Jack commented making Evie give him a mild glare. She had gotten used to it by now. Evie would properly introduce herself, and Jack would ruin it for the fun of it.

"I'm a former theoretical physicist," Evie told Estelle shoving Jack with her elbow, "Now-a-days I work with strange phenomenon, with Jack. He invited me along, he said you were important to him and he wanted to introduce me to you."

"Well, I'm certainly impressed with your girlfriend Jack," Estelle said with a sly smile that made Evie grin at Jack. Jack was about to say something (probably to deny the label) so Evie shoved him in the ribs again.

"Right, well can I see those pictures of yours?" Jack asked rubbing his side while trying to make it look like he wasn't. Estelle let him look at them right away without any fuss.

"Estelle, when did you take these?" Jack asked after scanning through a few of them.

"A couple of nights ago," Estelle answered quickly.

"Where?" Jack inquired looking up at Estelle.

"In Roundstone Wood," was the answer.

"That's not far from here is it?" It was a genuine question. Evie was fairly sure she recognized the name as being a local landmark, but she had only lived in Cardiff for two years, and that didn't make her foolproof on the local area. No, that was more Ianto's department.

"So good to see you again, Jack," Estelle said unnecessarily. She seemed like a sweet older lady, but she had to be just a little bit crazy if she was saying the exact same thing again, "Oh, look, there's the wood." Estelle said before handing Jack another photo. Jack looked at it for a second before letting out a long-suffering sigh. The kind that always made Evie think of Hamlet. That one scene where Ophelia was describing Hamlet's madness, supposedly it was a world-ending sigh, and this one Jack had just let out sounded exactly like Evie had always imagined Hamlet's.

"That was a Hamlet sigh," Evie said matter-of-factly getting a strange look from Estelle, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Jack and I have always disagreed about fairies. I only see the good ones. He only ever sees the bad," Estelle said with a smile and a mild laugh. Evie raised an eyebrow turning to Jack for his reply.

"They're all bad," Jack asserted.

"No. I refuse to believe that," Estelle said with a stubborn smile that made Evie realize why Jack considered her such a dear friend. It was little scenes like these that showed exactly how close you were to another person.

"Isn't it possible that they're both?" Evie suggested, "Like humans. Most people would look at say…Harry Potter, and say that he's all good. But look at what he could do in a rage. Then you see a darker side. Then compare him to say, Snape, he's a good guy, but sometimes you just truly believe he's evil. But it's just love gone and ruined him for anything else."

"That's quite a bit like what Jack's father used to say," Estelle said with a misty look in her eyes. There was a short pause in which Estelle was probably thinking about 'Jack's father' (Jack himself if Evie had any kind of logical reasoning). Then Estelle turned back to Jack, "Oh, Jack, if only you had seen them there in the wood. They were happy. They were dancing. The fairy lights were shining."

"Do you have any more photos?" Jack asked slightly more abrupt than before. He looked over at Evie before meeting Estelle's eyes as she looked up at him (he was a good foot taller than Estelle, and even Evie was several inches taller than the older lady).

"Yes, at home," Estelle admitted with a little smile. Jack smiled down at her looking somewhere between and indulgent uncle and a lover.

"Right. I need to see them all," Jack announced letting loose his grin. Evie shook her head as she realized that Jack had brought her to meet an ex-girlfriend who he still had some serious feelings for. Of all the stupid places to bring a girl on a date!

The walk to Estelle's house wasn't very long. They were all carrying something which needed to get back to Estelle's and Evie couldn't begin to understand how Estelle had gotten it all there walking. Maybe she had gotten some neighborhood kids to tote the stuff over for a few pounds.

When they got there Evie was suitably impressed with the little house and its garden. It wasn't very large, but it looked to be well cared for, and the garden had a feel of organized chaos. From what Evie had caught of Estelle's personality it didn't surprise her at all.

The interior of the house was cozy and a little cluttered, full of all kinds of trinkets and photos, and papers. It looked like an older woman's house, but not in the way that screamed 'grandmother.' There were thankfully few floral prints, and it seemed there were no hold-overs from the 60s and 70s (Evie could not stand the farce of interior decorating from those periods. Who ever heard of pink and gray bathrooms?).

All the bags and papers were carefully placed out of the way, but right where Estelle would be able to find them again in the future without straining herself.

"Oh, thank you, Jack. This is Moses," Estelle said gesturing to the cat on the sofa. Evie grinned and pet Moses' head gently, coaxing a purr from the stern looking cat.

"Hello, Moses," Evie greeted sitting on the coach next to the cat, not worrying about cat hairs. On the other side of the room Estelle was handing Jack a portfolio of pictures.

"They're mostly just pictures of the area," Estelle told Jack with a little laugh, finding it amusing that Jack insisted on looking through them. She turned towards Moses only to find him quite ontent to be cuddled by Evie.

"Well, I was going to take you out Moses," Estelle said looking at the cat in wonderment. Most likely he was usually very eager to get outside, "But it seems you've found something to occupy you." She said laughing at the last as Moses purred particularly loudly as Evie found a good place to scratch under his chin.

"I'll take him out," Evie said with a grin picking up the cat, "He should probably go out if that's his routine, even if he's decided I'm his new best friend."

Evie walked out with the cat in her arms cuddling. But as soon as she set Moses down outside he went streaking off into some deep part of the garden that Evie couldn't see. So Evie went in the general direction Moses had taken off in, to make sure he didn't get into any real trouble.

It was awhile later that Jack and Estelle came out. Jack had a portfolio tucked under his arm, and Estelle had the funniest grin. It looked as though she had just heard the best thing in her entire life.

"Hey Jack," Evie said not even noticing the bits of grass in her hair. She had gone crawling about on the ground trying to get ahold of Moses. But the cat had decided now he was outside that he didn't feel like cuddling anymore, and wanted nothing to do with Evie.

"What on earth happened to you?" Jack asked looking as though he were holding back a grin. Evie just gave him a blank stare until he calmed down a little.

"Moses decided he didn't need a new best friend after all," Evie said proudly pushing a bit of hair behind her ear, only to find the grass. She started finger combing the reddish-blond locks until she seemed satisfied all the grass was gone. In the meantime Estelle and Jack were having a conversation.

"Estelle, when you next see these creatures you call us immediately, understand?" Jack ordered.

"Mm-hm," That 'of course not you idiot, but I'll act like I'm going to do as you ask because I like you' was a tone of voice Evie herself had mastered; it was nice to see that the whole world of Jack-loves had joined her.

"Night or day, it doesn't matter, just call us. And be careful, it's important to me," Jack said just as Evie was pulling the last bits of grass out.

"But, Jack, I've nothing to worry about," Estelle said looking very sure that she was right in this assumption, "And don't forget that you can talk to me anytime. You don't need an invitation for a little talk." That left Evie wondering what on earth they had been talking about while she was out with the cat.

"Just be careful. Please," Jack asked with a quiet pleading. Jack gave Estelle a little hug, before they went back through the house to leave. As they were leaving Estelle insisted again that Jack come and talk whenever, and told Evie that she was welcome to visit Moses whenever.

"Estelle shouldn't be living in town. She belongs in the countryside," Jack commented sadly as they left.

"She does seem the kind of open meadows and places untouched by man," Evie commented looking back at the house as they left, "I'm guessing you don't see her often."

"We meet up now and again," Jack answered calmly.

"From what Estelle said, sounds like only when there're fairies or trouble involved," Evie said feeling odd. Would Jack someday just disappear, and she would be the strange older lady, living alone with a cat, in a place that wasn't at all who she was, just to be close to a memory? She certainly hoped not, but it seemed likely.

"She calls them fairies. I don't," Jack said with a little shake of his head.

"So, some breed of alien?" Evie asked trying to pull herself out of depressing thoughts, "What're they called?"

"They've never really had a proper name," Jack said seeming to only catch the last bit. His mind was somewhere else too.

"So, not part of your Torchwood days. Torchwood names everything," Evie commented quietly, "How bad an alien are we talking about?"

"Worse than alien," Jack said shaking his head. That made Evie furrow her brow. What on earth was that much worse than what they saw everyday?

"How so?" Evie asked looking up at Jack.

"Because they're part of us, part of our world, yet we know nothing about them. So we pretend to know what they look like. We see them as happy. We imagine they have tiny little wings and are bathed in moonlight," The last bit was rueful, like a little laugh at human's stupidity.

"Then they're not?" Evie asked feeling like she wouldn't like the answer, "What are they like?"

"No. Think dangerous, think something you can only half see like a glimpse, like something out of the corner of your eye with a touch of myth, a touch of the spirit world, a touch of reality, all jumbled together," Jack said stopping and looking over at Evie, then he continued, "Old moments and memories that are frozen in amongst it. Like debris spinning around a ringed planet - tossing, turning, whirling. Then backwards and forwards through time. If that's them we have to find them ... before all hell breaks loose."

Then Jack started walking again.

Evie caught up with him and changed the subject. Even if they were Torchwood, there was only so much of weighty matters that they could take before they burst. Maybe that was why Owen was a git, and Jack flirted with anything that moved; it made a distraction from the seriousness of an issue. But that was also what pissed Gwen off when she first started. She was learning now.

"So, what were you talking to Estelle about?" Evie pried with a grin.

"It's a secret," Jack said adopting a grin. Evie knew it was forced, but it was so much more normal to see Jack with a grin.

"It too secret to even tell me?" Evie wheedled, mostly joking, "Your brilliant and beautiful second-in-command and girlfriend?" Evie immediately regretted the last bit as Jack flinched at the title. Why did Jack have such issues with labels? Sure they didn't exist in the 51st century (according to Jack) but surely he had been in the past long enough to be used to it.

"Especially my beautiful and brilliant second-in-command," Jack said recovering quickly, but the omission was glaringly obvious between them.

The walk across town back to the hub was silent, awkward, and extremely uncomfortable.

_**XX**_

The awkward air between the two commanding officers was palpable, and everyone was being quiet and respectful of that fact as everyone gathered for a briefing in the conference room. Tosh set up a set of pictures. The first one was one of the ones from the lecture.

"So, what's this then?" Evie asked looking at the screen. There was a sudden release of tension from the whole team as Evie spoke. They must have been catching a lot of the tension and building it up inside themselves as well.

"They're called the Cottingley glass plates, or the Cottingley photos sometimes," Tosh started explaining, "They were taken by two young girls, and they were said to be genuine proof of the existence of fairies for a long time. This one, this is the youngest girl. And the girl's cousin." As Tosh explained Ianto passed out drinks. A cup of coffee was placed in front of Jack, and Evie was given a cup of some warm concoction (she still hadn't gotten Ianto to explain what it was called) topped with a pile of whipped cream.

"I blame it on magic mushrooms," Ianto said sarcastically. Evie shot him a grin for his humor, and Jack was obviously feeling similarily.

"What you do in private is none of our business," Jack said with a little smile and a shake of his head. Ianto just kept around the table to hand a mug to Gwen.

"But these photographs were fake," Gwen said dismissively as she took her coffee (looked like it had been doused with milk).

"Conan Doyle believed in them," Owen argued taking his own mug (his would be coffee, and it would be black, no sugar or milk).

"He was gaga at the time," Gwen replied looking bored with the conversation.

"And Houdini," Owen tossed in as Tosh got her own mug (hers seemed to be tea today, but she had been known to take coffee with a little milk and a spoonful of sugar).

"Self-publicist," Gwen said with a dismissive wave of the hand not holding her mug.

"How do you know so much about it?" Jack asked truly curious as to how Gwen knew so much about all this. She hadn't been given any warning they were talking about fairies today.

"I wrote an essay on the Cottingley glass-plate photos when I was at school," Gwen answered with a roll of her eyes as Owen sniggered. He must be having a good day to be so cheerfully rude, "And when the girls were old ladies they admitted they were fakes."

"So where was this sighting then?" Tosh asked to draw attention from Gwen before she and Owen came to blows. The Tosh clicked her little clicker-thingy and the picture changed to the one of the stone circle in the woods.

"In a place called Roundstone Wood," Jack said calmly.

"I know it. Has an odd history," Owen said calming down now that he wasn't actively arguing with Gwen.

"How is it everyone but me knows about this place?" Evie asked looking around at the group, "I've lived here as long as Ianto has."

"But I know everything," Ianto said from the back of the room.

"Well…Owen and Tosh are even Welsh!" Evie said grasping for straws.

"Yeah, and they've both lived here longer than you have," Ianto said with a grin, "Plus, even though you're Welsh you lived all your life till three years ago in England."

"How d'you mean odd?" Jack interrupted looking to Owen. Evie gave him a reproachful look, but she leaned back in her chair to get settled.

"It's always stayed wild. In the ancient times it was considered bad luck to walk in there or even to collect timber. Even the Romans stayed clear of it," Owen said sounding a bit impressed by the history himself.

"I've had no report of any sighting," Tosh added leaning over the table to look at some of the papers and photos tossed in the middle of the table.

"You won't. These things come in under the radar, but they play tricks with the weather, so set up a program for unnatural weather patterns," Jack said making everyone look a little uncomfortable. Even their tech couldn't pick them up?

"Right," Tosh affirmed looking down the length of the table at Jack and Evie sitting next to him.

"Are you saying our machines can't pick them up?" Gwen asked voicing a concern that everyone had been thinking a moment before. Jack looked seriously at her, and just shook his head. It didn't help anyone's morals that Jack looked so serious and sorry about the whole thing.

"Nothing can," Jack said quietly. The room was filled with silence as everyone gathered their things to go and try to track down some readings that might be indicative of the creatures' presence.

_**XX**_

Jack, Owen and Gwen went out to Roundstone Wood to see if they could find anything. Evie stayed behind with Tosh and Ianto to get some data on the local weather patterns lately, and man the hub in case of a second emergency (which while unlikely has happened before). It was a while after the three had returned that they got a call from the police. While it wasn't unusual to get a call, it was slightly unusual that it would come in the middle of an emergency. Well, no it wasn't. But it did mean most of the team piling into an SUV and driving down the station.

When they got there it was a custody sergeant that greeted them, and took them to deal with the locked door case.

"I thought I'd seen everything until now. We had him locked up, for Christ's sake, on his own. He was shouting the odds. Said things were following him," The sergeant said as he lead Jack, Evie, and Gwen back to the cell.

"What kind of things?" Jack asked seriously. Yep, this was definitely connected to the whole fairy thing. Weird connection, but they had to be connected.

"Shadows, he said. And he was going on about being choked," The sergeant said incredulously as Tosh joined them from seemingly nowhere. Evie had forgotten that she had wandered off to check on something. The Sergeant opened the door as Tosh started talking.

"There were four other prisoners. They saw nothing," Tosh explained as the group waited for the sergeant to get the door opened.

"Where are they now?" Gwen asked bleeding heart that she was.

"I've had them transferred," Tosh replied calmly. She knew what she was doing. They had never had to deal with this exact situation, but they'd dealt with a number of similar ones, and everyone had a role they had long since gotten accustomed to. Except perhaps Gwen. Gwen had problems with authority and Torchwood morals.

"CCTV?" Jack checked as Gwen looked on and Evie started looming over the sergeant to make him move faster.

"I'm dealing with that," Tosh said looking over at Evie in amusement. It was at that moment that the slightly nervous sergeant got the door opened. He lead them back to the cell getting his nerves back after his encounter with Evie's stern side.

"At first I thought he was a drunk or a nutcase, or both," The sergeant explained with a slightly worried glance at Evie, as though he thought she would disapprove of the measure's made about the nut who had died in a locked cell.

"Right, I want this place locked off," Jack ordered as they made their way to the cell. The sergeant scrambled off to go seal off the area (and probably get away from Evie who was having the time of her life scaring the shit out of the poor man), and the Torchwood team opened up the cell to see inside.

"Name?" Jack asked as Gwen and Tosh edged past him into the cell. The body was lying on the ground and a set of medical tools were near him.

"Mark Goodson. Worked in town. Business consultant," Tosh said covering the basics of who the man was as Gwen looked around the cell and Tosh took a closer look at the body.

In all rightfulness Owen should have been there, but he skived off claiming he had a splitting headache and the meds he was dosing himself with would make him sleepy for at least an hour or two. He was obviously lying, but Jack let him get away with it, and Evie couldn't say anything after that, although she gave Owen one of her best glares and put on her heavy-duty-I-could-probably-cause-permanent-damage shoes in front of Owen's face. He paled and Evie was sure he'd be perfectly heathy by the time they got back.

"Cause of death?" Jack asked and Tosh knelt beside the body to get a better look. Tosh had been given some pretty good medical education from Owen, because everyone at Torchwood Three has at least two jobs they can perform at any given moment (Jack dealt with the other alien affiliated organizations (like UNIT and Torchwood Two) as well as being a field agent and the leader, Gwen was expected to be a liaison to local police and be a competent field agent, Owen was field agent, medic, and autopsy-person, Evie was a field agent and the resident physics expert as well as being the person to keep everyone in generally good spirits, and she was frequently called upon to be disciplinarian, Tosh was a secondary medic, Tech expert, secondary field-tech expert, and she typically manned all data related cover-ups, while Ianto was the archivist (he kept the archives under control), he controlled the budget, and kept everyone in caffeine, he also was responsible for any physical cover-ups).

"Well, going by the pinpoint hemorrhages on the eye-lids and around the hairline, I'd say oxygen deficiency. But it's odd. There's no fingertip bruising on the face, no areas of pallor," Tosh said pointing out the inconsistencies.

"Sounds like he choked on something," Evie commented, "But what on earth would have been in here that he could have choked on? Human survival instinct means that we're incapable of drowning ourselves or holding our breath till we suffocate. He couldn't have shoved something in his own mouth without losing it the moment he passed out; before he was dead."

Going on that idea Gwen took a closer look inside the man's mouth, and seemed to find something, because she made an 'ah-ha!' sound and grabbed some specialized tweezers from the medical tool kit. Gwen pulled out first one rose petal, then another two. The petals looked surprisingly whole for something lodged in the back of a man's throat.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Tosh commented sounding mildly sickened by the idea.

"Yeah, and how are they that whole and untouched? Sure it's weird that a guy had red rose petals shoved down his throat, but whole petals that have almost none of the bruise marks your average flower petal has after only fifteen or so minutes separated from a flower? That's what I find odd," Evie said leaning against the edge of the door in a pseudo-casual pose.

"That's what you come up with?" Jack asked looking at his…what? Lover?...in confusion, "I've seen this before though. We definitely know what we're dealing with now."

_**XX**_

The four of them went back to the hub after that and happily hacked into the CCTV footage to watch what had happened for themselves. Ianto and Owen were both off doing something that no one else had any knowledge of, but no one was all that worried. If either of them got a call they would come running to resolve any issues.

So it was that Evie, Tosh, Gwen, and Jack were sitting in the conference room morbidly watching as a man died on the screen.

"We know the dead man was a convicted pedophile, used to hang around schools," Jack said calmly turning his head slightly so he wasn't looking directly at the screen.

"Why the petals in his mouth?" Gwen asked with a horrible fascination of the screen. Maybe it was like watching the proverbial train wreck. You want to look away, you know you should look away, you don't really want to see what's going on, but it was just impossible to look away.

"Just a bit of fun on their part," Jack said grimly looking back at the screen. Yep, like a train wreck.

"You call that fun?" Gwen asked sounding highly offended as Mark Goodson, on the screen, writhed on the tiny cot in the cell, and fell to the floor, still writhing and gripping at his throat, in the universal sign for 'choking.'

"I know what Jack finds fun," Evie said looking to Gwen, "That's not it. No, what that man went through was what the creatures called not only fun, but justice. And if I were asked 24 hours ago what should be done about that man, I would have said he needed to be punished, but I never would have said death, and I don't think any of us at Torchwood would have." Gwen looked ashamed of her words, and a good bit of anger was hidden in her eyes; probably directed at Evie, "Learn to choose your words better."

"Evie." Jack said looking at his erstwhile protector, "That's enough," Then Jack turned back to look at Gwen, "That's the way these creatures like to do things. They play games, they torment and they kill."

Gwen stared at Jack a long moment before finally opening her mouth and asking, "Why?"

"As a punishment or a warning to others. They protect their own. The chosen ones. Somehow children and the spirit world, they go together," Jack said shaking his head a little at the last part. And Evie realized how right he was. The spirit world in every traditional mythology that Evie knew _anything_ about implied that children were closer, and more open to it. Maybe it was their innocence, or maybe it was their perceptiveness. Who knows, but they were definitely closer.

"So how do we stop them?" Tosh asked obviously avoiding looking at Gwen and Evie. Things were suddenly very tense between the tow, and Tosh obviously didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Jack looked at the other two women before looking back at Tosh and sitting down.

"First we have to find out who they want. And we can't trap them. They have control of the elements - fire, water, the air that we breathe. They can drag that air right out of our bodies. Sometimes I think they're part Mara," Jack admitted looking defeated. And Jack was never defeated. These things really weren't something you could fight, it would be like trying to fight a wisp of air. Completely harmless so long as you don't bother them, but the moment you mess with them they become a tempest, and there's no way to trap them, and they would kill you.

"Mara?" Tosh asked before Evie could even think about it. Then Evie realized that she should have asked about them, and the Chosen Ones Jack had just mentioned, they needed to be looked at too.

"Kind of malignant wraiths. It's where the word 'nightmare' came from. They suffocate people in their sleep," Jack explained to the Japanese woman. Tosh gave a tiny nod as she thought about that fact. But before Evie could ask about the Chosen Ones the phone rang. Jack answered it putting it on speaker for all of them to hear.

"Yeah?" Jack asked incredibly informally. What if it had been a stupid politician, or a General from UNIT or something? They needed to work on his basic phone skills.

"Jack it's me, Estelle," Came the older woman's voice. She sounded nervous, like she wasn't quite sure exactly what was going on, but knew it was bad. At the sound of Estelle's voice Jack sat up straighter and leaned forward his brow furrowing in worry. Evie had to beat down a league of Jealousy Demons from the depths of her mind.

"Yeah, what is it?" Jack asked without even bothering to pretend he wasn't nervous. Evie found herself glaring at the speaker phone and made herself calm down. It wasn't like she and Jack were super serious after all, they got together because of an accident with an alien device, and the only way they could really work together properly was to be a 'couple' (another word Jack refused to admit to, like girlfriend).

"You were right, Jack. There are bad ones. They've come to me," Estelle said nervously over the phone. Everyone in the room could detect the hint of hysterical laughter at the back of Estelle's voice, just waiting to bubble over.

"Estelle, we're on our way. Stay where you are, don't go anywhere near them, do you understand?" Jack ordered standing up out of his seat and gesturing that Evie, Gwen, and Tosh should get ready to leave. So Evie left the room making the call to Owen and Ianto to come in faster than they've ever managed before and get their butts to the hub.

_**XX**_

Owen and Ianto made it to the garage before the other four, Ianto made his way into the hub with a nod to monitor the rift while they were gone. Tosh, Owen, and Gwen all climbed into the back of the SUV while Evie got in on the passenger side of the front. Jack started off (driving almost as badly as Evie) and Tosh got into her laptop, and had it start scanning the weather.

"It makes no sense. It's a fine night yet the weather map says there's rain," Tosh said looking at the window to see stars and hardly a cloud marring the black expanse.

"I expect it'll be those things," Evie said staring straight out the window. She didn't really want to be going, because Jack was going to have the affectionate look in his eyes every time he looked at Estelle, and she was just going to have to stand there and take it, even though he was _her_ boyfriend, even if he hated the label.

There was silence save from an occasional beep from Tosh's screen the rest of the way to the quiet little street. Wasn't it so ironic that some of the most horrible things in the world happen on quiet little streets you'd never imagine anything going wrong? _Maybe_ Evie thought unbuckling and getting ready to jump out of the car before they had even reached the right street, _The quiet little streets where you'd think nothing ever happens are the places that hurt the most._ And somehow Evie's mind wasn't on fairies and poor Estelle who went looking for them not truly understanding what she was looking for, but on a little house with three bedrooms, and one bathroom to share between them. It had only the smallest of front gardens, and nothing in the back. The outside had been white, and the shutters had long since flacked off whatever color paint had been put on them, and a door painted bright blue because a little girl, who had just lost her father, wanted a blue door.

Estelle had nothing to do with Evie's mind as they pulled up to Estelle's house and Evie jumped out making it to the door just a step behind Jack.

No, all that was going through her mind was a pretty little house in a town a little ways outside of London, where she had spent her childhood. And Evie realized with a suddenness that shocked herself, that her childhood home had an aura, just like Estelle's. It was a little cluttered, and it smelled of something good, but not quite recognizable, and there had been vases of flowers on every surface, pictures on every wall, and the fridge had been covered with little pencil drawings Evie had done in layers. ON the top were gorgeous sketches with impeccable shading of Aethelred, and her mother, and of herself, and the further down the more simplistic until all the way at the bottom you suddenly found an old crayon drawing that you couldn't quite tell what it was supposed to be, but it had been done with such pride, that no mother could ever refuse to place it on that fridge.

It was distantly that Evie heard Jack calling for Estelle as he banged on the door, and tears were already running down her face as they ran around to the back garden and found Estelle lying on the ground soaked through, while most of her garden was bone dry.

They all knew Estelle was dead even before Owen checked her pulse and breathing. And Evie knelt down in the dirt next to Jack as he held his old lover tight. Evie wrapped her arms around Jack, and he leaned slightly into the touch as he closed Estelle's eyes.

"You loved her," Evie whispered, "So grieve for her. The world can wait a few hours."

"We once made a vow. That we'd be with each other till we died," Jack told Evie not even noticing that Gwen was listening in on the conversation, or that Owen and Tosh had left to go do something with the SUV.

"And you were here," Evie said tightening her arms a little and squeezing him, "That's what matters. You were there. Even though you hadn't been lovers in years, you were there in the end when it counted."

Jack turned slightly to look at Evie and released one arm from his grip around Estelle's body to wipe tears off Evie's cheek. Evie forced a little smile and looked up at the house.

"You know, Estelle was a lot like my mother," Evie murmured, "She had that cluttered little house full of the things she loved, and she was so full of energy even as she aged. She had a mantel just like Estelle's. Full of old photos. There was one of her and my dad the day they met, they were glaring at each other and Mam had a huge bouquet of flowers he had ordered, and Tad's Mam took the picture; the flowers were for her of course."

Jack turned his head and kissed Evie lightly on the lips before setting Estelle's body lightly on the ground with all the gentleness he could muster. Then he stood up and Evie followed him up.

"I need a drink," He said before turning to leave the garden. Evie didn't follow, they would leave just yet, they had calls to make and everything so Evie knelt back on the ground and lifted Estelle's arms so they were clasped lightly over her breast.

"I'm so glad you made him so happy when you had him," Evie whispered feeling somehow that Estelle's spirit hadn't left just yet, "I very much doubt he would have any fire left had he never fallen in love with you. And I wish I could have looked beyond my own jealousy, because you were an absolutely brilliant woman."

Then Evie stood and looked around the garden once more finding Moses staring at her through the bushes. Evie walked over to the cat and lifted him off the ground, "Come on Moses, you can come home with me for the night at least."

_**XX**_

When everything had been settled Jack and Evie went into Jack's office and Jack poured two little glasses of some kind of alcohol. It looked like scotch, but there was no label on the bottle, and until she tasted it, Evie wouldn't have a clue. Moses was asleep on Evie's lap as the two humans sat across the desk from each other in silence for a moment.

"How'd you meet her?" Evie asked knowing jack needed to talk about it.

"In London at the Astoria ballroom a few weeks before Christmas. She was seventeen years old and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. But nothing lasted back then. Promises were always being broken. Estelle ... to have to die like that," Jack said the last sounding choked as he took a gulp of alcohol. Evie gripped Jack's other hand, which had been resting on the desk's surface. There was a long moment of silence as Jack composed himself and Evie watched him carefully. When he broke down, she would be the one to comfort him; because she understood.

"The petals in that man's mouth," Evie started getting Jack's attention back. She waited a moment to see if he was comfortable with the subject, "You said you'd seen it before…where?"

"On a troop train. Fifteen men with me in charge. Everyone happy. Too happy. Too noisy." Jack said before pausing a moment. It was obviously a subject he didn't really want to talk about, and Evie was about to stop him when he continued, "Then we hit a tunnel. We thought some birds had flown in through an open window. Then came the silence. And when we came out of the tunnel...all fifteen men were dead. They'd been suffocated. My squad. Men I was responsible for."

"Do you know why?" Evie asked looking at him gently as he took a drink from his glass, "Indiscriminate killing…or…something more?"

"About a week earlier some of them had got drunk. Drove a truck through a village, ran over a child, killed her. That child was a chosen one," Jack told her. The look in his eyes was intense enough that Evie took a large gasp of breath, trying to get her composure back.

"What are the Chosen Ones?" Evie asked finally.

"They're children taken from different points in time," Jack started then he paused, as if thinking about what he had just said, "That's what all these 'fairies' are; children from different places, places that used to belong to the fairies."

Evie was about to ask what that meant about this incident when Tosh called for them. Jack seemed to know she was about to ask something and gave her an apologetic look as he downed the last of his drink while Evie's sat on the desk, completely untouched.

There was another incident of strange weather, at a school somewhere in Cardiff that Evie had never ventured. It looked like it was going to be another of those 'quiet-streets-where-everyone-assumes-nothing-happens-but-in-reality-everything-happens' situations again, therefore Evie was not looking forward to it.

For a field agent she was rather reluctant to go out into the field.

_**XX**_

When they arrived at the school (proudly called Co-ed Y Garreg Primary School), they immediately saw where the weather had gone weird. The whole playground on the side of the school was covered in tree branches and leaves, and so colorful banners had been pulled off their mountings and were lying about like discarded ribbons.

Gwen went off in the general direction of the playground, but none of the others bothered to follow her. The real information would be found inside, with the teacher who had been outside when they weather hit.

It didn't take long for them to find the teacher who had been out with the children when the fairies came out. And thankfully, no one asked who was standing in the middle of the whole thing.

"I've never seen anything like it. It was so sudden. Then it ... then it just ended," The teacher told them.

"Kate, is it?" Tosh asked looking at a PDA-like piece of technology. It had actually been built by Tosh, Evie, and Suzie several months before they found the Resurrection Glove, and used the best of both human and alien technology, and a little quantum computing from Evie, that took even Tosh a moment to understand.

"Was anyone hurt?" Owen asked being a good doctor for once. Or maybe it was just so ingrained in his mind that he should help anyone who could have been potentially hurt back when he was a surgeon.

"No. Two children were almost scared to death, but they're okay," Kate admitted hugging the blanket draped around her shoulders tighter.

It was then that Gwen rejoined them looking terrified. She stepped close to Jack (far closer than Evie liked) and whispered (sounding terrified still), "I saw them."

Kate was still leaving them through the school to her classroom, and Evie stepped closer to Jack as they entered the room. She looked over at Gwen and raised an eyebrow a little. Gwen backed away half a step, and looked to the conversation still going on.

"And there was little Jasmine in amongst it all. She hadn't been touched. The sun was shining down on her. It was ... it was like an aura, like something protecting her," Kate was saying looking confused, and shaken by the whole experience. But really, who wouldn't be?

"Who is Jasmine?" Jack asked earnestly. The teacher seemed a little taken aback by the seriousness of his expression, but Evie gave her a tiny sympathetic smile and tilted her head a little towards Jack. It seemed to comfort the woman.

"Jasmine Pearce. She's a pupil of mine," Kate said calmer now.

"Where is she now?" Jack asked in the same tone of voice and Kate looked to Evie who nodded a little. There was a reason beyond physics why they kept her around. She was small and pretty enough, and she looked like she couldn't hurt a fly. It was comforting compared to Jack, Owen, and Gwen (who all looked quite capable of sending someone flying over their shoulder, or shooting them), and Tosh who looked and acted like she could kill you with her brain. Ianto was comforting and everything, but he wasn't really cleared for field work (partially because Jack was an ass and didn't want to let him go out because he used to be from Torchwood One).

"We're sending all the children home. We have to," Kate said looking back to Jack. Who nodded calmly and suddenly looked a lot less serious. Well, he was serious, but he wasn't 'I-could-kill-you-if-I-wanted-to-serious' now he was 'I'm-sorry-for-your-problems-and-I'll-try-to-fix-them' serious now.  
><strong>"<strong>Yeah, thanks," Jack said and Kate left, probably wanting to get away from Jack, which she couldn't really be blamed for.

Once she had walked out of sight Gwen and Evie asked in unison, "The chosen one?" They then glared at each other for a moment before turning back to Jack.

Jack cleared his throat awkwardly trying not to look at the two women before replying, "Yeah."

They obviously rushed off right then. If the 'fairies' were already killing people and scaring little kids to death, then they needed to get moving. The drive was short and Jack let Evie drive for once.

It was the first time Gwen had ever been in the car with Evie at the wheel, and from the expression on her face it was something she would like to avoid ever doing again. It wasn't even as bad as it could be. Evie was only going 40 over the limit, and she actually slowed before she took that turn onto Old Forest Road. No one ever appreciated cautious driving.

When they reached the house the sound of screaming distracted everyone from scolding Evie over her driving. People were rushing in a disorganized fashion away from the house, so Gwen, Owen, and Tosh helped them get out a bit better. Jack and Evie made it all the way into the backyard as a fairy (who one earth would ever call those ugly things fairies? The name does not fit the appearance, it's like naming a boy Megan, you just don't expect it) wrestled a large-ish man the the ground. A woman was screaming for the man (apparently his name was Roy). The fairy balanced itself on his stomach, preventing the man from getting up. Then it stuck it's arm in his mouth. It reached in and in until it seemed as though half the arm was stuck impossibly, and grotesquely into the poor man's mouth.

Evie looked away from the spectacle for a second to see a little girl laughing, unaffected by the wind or the horror. This must be the Chosen One, and for one horrible moment Evie felt the girl deserved to become one of those things, she was certainly as cruel.

But before her thoughts could get too far the second fairy (which had previously just been floating about on the other side of the garden) launched itself at Jack.

"Goddamnit!" Evie cried out more angry than worried as the fairy grabbed onto the lapels of Jack's coat. She ran forward using all her forward momentum to shove the fairy off Jack, and unfortunately she landed Jack and herself on the ground in the process.

The fairy still on Roy pulls his hand out of the man's throat (he is obviously dead by this point) and flew off out of the garden with its fellows. The woman who had been calling for the now-dead man went rushing forward sobbing and reaching for the man, who had rose petals stuffed in his mouth.

Evie and Jack pulled themselves off the ground as the little girl slipped through a hole in the fence (probably what made the damn 'fairies' attack). The wind died out and everyone, save Evie, checked on the dead man. Evie had realized he was irrevocably dead the moment the fairy had attacked him. Evie instead made her way to the fence where the girl had crawled through. She pulled herself through the fence, and Jack was only a few second behind her.

They could see the little girl ahead of them. She was just standing there, looking at the trees. They were nice old trees, but they were just trees. Nothing spectacular, they weren't huge, but nor were they saplings or ornamental trees. There was something wild about them, but they looked like a forest which had only just recovered from a great fire or something. New.

"Do you know you're walking in an old forest? Well, you are. It looks like a very old forest, and it's magical. I want to stay in it," The girl said turning to them. And Evie realized what it was. Jasmine saw this beautiful old forest, a magical forest, which didn't exist anymore. No wonder she was chosen. But somehow it made Evie feel horrible for her thoughts earlier, the girl was being used by these things, and she didn't even know it.

"You can see this forest?" Jack asked looking around. He was obviously coming to the same conclusions Evie had.

"Yes," Jasmine replied as though it were obvious.

"But it's not here. It's just an illusion, Jasmine. It is." Jack told her trying to convince her of the truth. But when Jasmine shook her head Evie realized she wasn't going to be convinced. Jack was going to give up though. He was Captain Jack Harkness after all.

"Your friends are just playing a game with you," Jack said with a highly forced grin as Gwen came charging up the hill. Evie turned and gave Gwen a little glare to tell her not to interfere (as though the strong-willed woman was actually going to stay silent) as Jack looked up at the fairies in the tree, "The real forest can never come back."

"Oh, it can. When they take me to it," Jasmine said sounding slightly nasty, and not at all like the little girl she was. Evie had to quench the disgust at this girl's attitude. It didn't feel like she was an innocent in the machinations of creatures beyond comprehension. It felt like she was a collaborator, or even the leader.

"Did they tell you that?" Evie asked nodding her head in the direction of the trees. Jasmine nodded and Gwen butted in.

"But what about your mother? Don't you want to stay with her?" Gwen asked leaning forward to get closer to the girl. There was a gust of wind that pushed Gwen away from Jasmine and the fairies just stared down from the branches at them.

"Come on. The child isn't sure," Jack said addressing the fairies.

"I am sure," Jasmine insisted. Jack grabbed her tight, and Evie looked at him disapprovingly. While she would love to save this little girl, she was convinced that this was what she wanted, and she would never grow to understand how horrible it was.

"No!" Jasmine shouted struggling in Jack's grasp.

"Leave her alone," Jack ordered. As though ordering creatures from the depths of time itself was ever going to work.

"Find another chosen one," Jack continued as they fairies moved in closer around them.

"Too late. She belongs with us," The fairies finally spoke, and Evie wished they hadn't. Their voices were raspy and breathy, and somehow they felt like the came from somewhere far away, nothing to do with the real and mundane world surrounding them.

"The child belongs here," Jack insisted still gripping the girl tightly. But it wasn't tight enough to bruise her little arms, just enough to keep her close.

"No-o-o-o. She lives forever," The fairies said drawing out the first word like a child might. But then, they are children aren't they? Forever in the mental state of a child, without understanding of consequences and guilt that fades quickly into oblivion.

"Suppose we make her stay with us?" Jack asked still looking up at the fairies. It was Jasmine's cruel smirk that captured Evie attention though.

"Then lots more people will die," Jasmine said looking up at the man still holding her in place. She wasn't really struggling anymore, but she wasn't staying still really either.

"Did they tell you that?" Gwen asked receiving another glare from Evie. She should just stay quiet! This was not her responsibility. Yes she was a bleeding heart, she looked to the emotional side of things, but right now it was the world versus a deluded child. They weren't miracle workers, and they couldn't save everyone.

"They promised," Jasmine said with a grin towards Gwen.

"Come away, oh, human child!" The fairy voice called again. At the sound Jasmine tried to take a step away from Jack, to do as the fairy ordered, but Jack gripped her back against his body and Jasmine glared up at the man.

"Next time they'll kill everyone at my school like they killed Roy and that man and your friend," Jasmine said angrily.

"How do you know these things?" Gwen asked, but she sort of shouted, and Evie wasn't exactly sure whether she was asking or demanding or what else. But whatever it is she shouldn't have said anything so Evie moved over and placed her hand over Gwen's mouth.

"Shut up," Evie whispered turning to see Jasmine talking again.

"…Great storms, wild seas, turn the world to ice. Kill every living thing. Let me go!" Jasmine said pulling in Jack's grip and struggling again. Jack looked up at the fairies.

"The child won't be harmed?" Jack asked and Gwen opened her mouth to say something but Evie placed her hand over her mouth again, "Answer me! She won't be harmed?"

"We told you. She lives forever." The fairy replied from up in the trees. Jack loosened his grip a little on the girl.

"A dead world. Is that what you want?" Jasmine asked seriously, as threatening as she could.

Jack kneeled to look into Jasmine's eyes and asked, "What good is that to you? There will be no more chosen ones."

"They'll find us. Back in time," Jasmine said, but her voice wasn't the same. Before it had been thick with a Welsh accent, but now there was hardly any accent and it was raspy and breathy, and she sounded like one of the fairies already. Jack swallowed thickly, as though he was trying not to cry and lifted a hand to touch Jasmine's cheek lightly.

"Take her." Jack said releasing her completely and Jasmine stepped away.

The creatures in the trees changed. They weren't tall, gangly, ugly, naked things any more. They were small, the size of Jasmine's hand and they glowed like stars fallen to earth. They were so pretty, and innocent looking that Evie understood why people always thought fairies were such embodiments of good.

"Jack, NO!" Gwen said trying to run past Evie to get to Jasmine. Evie grabbed the taller woman and refused to let go.

"Dammit Gwen! It's little Jasmine or it's the world!" Evie yelled almost into Gwen's ear. Jack stepped forward adding his piece.

"You asked me what chance we had against them. For the sake of the world, _THIS_ is our only chance," He said alluding to some conversation Evie didn't know had taken place and he looked over to Evie with a nod. So Evie let go of Gwen, and she stepped away from both Evie and Jack, as though she couldn't believe they could be so cruel and heartless.

Jack turned back to watch Jasmine as she left, and right at the big tree that fairies had been speaking from she turned and smiled at them. It changed her entire appearance. She suddenly looked every bit of ethereal as the fairy lights surrounding her.

"Thank you," She said her voice breathy and low, and she skipped away down a path. Jack and Evie watched as she went until they heard steps rushing up the hill behind them.

"Jas!" A woman's voice cried and Evie turned to look at her. She was the woman who had been crying over Roy, so this was Jasmine's mother. But Jasmine up the path didn't look back, but light was building up around her. She was as bright as the fairy lights, and then…she was gone.

"Jas!" The woman cried again running up the path. It became a litany, "Jas, Jas, Jas." Then she yelled after her daughter one more time before turning and charging at Jack.

"No! No!" She started screaming as she reached Jack and began beating at his chest. Evie stepped forward, cautiously at first. Then Jack caught that woman's wrists and Evie wrapped her arms around the woman making 'shh' noises, like you would to a baby.

Jack wraps his arms around both Evie and Lynn and held them as Lynn continued to scream at them. Then Lynn's Knees began to colapse and the screams turned to sobs, and all three of them were on the ground and Evie was crying was Lynn sobbed and Jack just said, "I'm so sorry."

Then tears were pouring down his face too, and the whole lot of them just stayed there. Owen, Gwen, and Tosh were watching in disapproval, they apparently hadn't understood the threat, or that it was really the only choice. And now they seemed to hate both Jack and Evie, whereas before they had been in awe (occasional fear), and idolizing love of their superiors.

It was close to an hour before they managed to get Lynn back to her house. Then it was another hour before they got her situated enough to be able to take care of herself for a little while. Then it was time to leave.

The team hadn't said a word to Jack or Evie since the incident, and as they were leaving They walked right past them and brushed by in that way that you know they wanted to bang your shoulder, but knew your shoulder was harder than theirs.

"What else could I do?" Jack asked and none of them responded. They just piled into the SUV.

"Nothing," Evie whispered grabbing his hand and squeezing it for a moment before getting into the front seat. Jack followed her example and got into the driver's seat. A moment later they had driven off.

_**XX**_

When they got to the hub Jack told everyone to go home. He would man the rift for the night, and everyone was allowed to come in late the next day (as if Owen and Gwen weren't going to be late anyway). So Gwen, Tosh, and Owen left without a word to anyone, and Ianto trailed behind with a number of confused and longing looks to his boss and his best friend. He hadn't been there, but without a doubt he would know everything before he came in (on time) the next morning.

So suddenly there was silence in the hub. It was just Jack and Evie (and Moses hiding somewhere). They just stood there in the middle of the hub for a minute before finally turning to look at each other.

"Let's get you to bed," Evie finally said. Jack gave her an odd look; even Evie wasn't sure what that look meant.

"Will you come with me?" Jack asked his look still indecipherable.

"Yeah," Evie said after a long pause. The two of them went into Jack's office and down into the manhole, and they went to sleep.

There wasn't any passionate sex, or anything of the sort. The closest was Evie wrapping her arms around Jack's middle and using his head as a pillow, feeling completely safe from all the terrors of the world right then and there.

_**XX**_

_**This chapter has been resolutely trying to kill me for the past week or so. Hence, the longer than normal time between chapters.**_

_**I'm sorry there's not as much Domestic or Fall-Out as normal, but I think I like how I did the last scene. What about you guys? Opinions?**_

_**Also, thank you once more to BiJane, who put out a new chapter of her story (Loss, fans of Harry Potter as well as Doctor Who should go looking for her crossover series, because it's fantastic) just in time to remind me to fight through to the end of this. Also, I thank Tumblr, who made me go watch 'Captain Jack Harkness' again, and made me think up a way to make that episode work.**_

_**I have created a full list of all the episodes I'll be including in this story (because I needed to know for myself), but I'll share it with you lot.**_

_**Countrycide**_

_**They Keep Killing Suzie**_

_**Out of Time**_

_**Captain Jack Harkness**_

_**End of Days**_

_**Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang**_

_**Meat**_

_**Adam**_

_**Reset**_

_**Something Borrowed**_

_**From Out of the Rain**_

_**Exit Wounds**_

_**Stolen Earth Journey's End**_

_**All five Children of Earth**_

_**Then a sequel!**_

_**I will be filling in between chapters with different things, like the next chapter will actually be a look into the Sarah-Jane Adventures. But the chapter after that will be Countrycide. I may do whole chapters of little Domestic bits later.**_

_**Also, I'm thinking of doing a separate story of different scenes that Evie isn't present for. Like the conversation between Estelle and Jack in this chapter, and possibly the one between Ianto and Owen. Tell me if anyone is interested, because I have vague ideas of what they should entail and all that, but no defined ideas. **_

_**Well, now that my author's note is a full page long…Please leave me a review, and I'll see you sometime soon with a new chapter (it might be a little delayed because I'm about to leave for college, but I have a nine hour drive to work during).**_


	7. Time and Families

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is between Small Worlds and Coutrycide, Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is during The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

"How the hell could you let those _things_ take that little girl?" Gwen asked angrily the next morning while Evie's neck still had a crick in it because curling up against Jack, while good for a few minutes, or even an hour, is not a good way to sleep.

"Would you rather we lost the entire world for it?" Evie replied venomously, "That's what would have happened if we hadn't let them take a sad little girl, who'd rather play in the woods than deal with her family. They would have frozen the world to punish us."

"But that girl!" Gwen argued right back. There was no logic to her arguments, just sheer righteous anger, "We should have helped her."

"We tried. She wanted to go with them, and they only wanted her. There wasn't anything we could do!" Evie yelled back. Owen, Tosh and Ianto were all standing to the side watching as the two strong-willed women shouted across the desk level of the hub. Evie was not in a good mood, because even though everyone (save Ianto) had come in late, she and Jack hadn't woken before them, so they come out of the office half dressed, not seeing the time to find everyone there. So Evie was wearing Jack's clothes because she refused to put on her dirty clothes from the day before, and they were several sizes too big, and highly uncomfortable.

"Okay, you two stop it!" Jack yelled down from his office, "You're both off duty, starting now."

"What?" Evie asked incredulously looking up at him, "But it's Thursday. All kinds of crazy stuff happens over the weekend."

"Yeah, but neither of you are any use if you can't speak a civil word to each other," Jack said sternly. He stood watching until Gwen had packed up her things and stormed from the hub, without a single word to Jack, or anyone else. Evie gathered up her own things, but she didn't leave right away.

"Jack," Evie said stepping up the short flight to where Jack was standing still.

"Evie," Jack replied with a raised eyebrow. Evie rocked herself up on the balls of her feet and kissed Jack sweetly.

"I'll be in tomorrow morning," Evie said with a smile, "And if you want I'll bring a spare set of clothes and spend the night again."

"No, you're taking the SUV and going to see Sarah-Jane," Jack said handing Evie a set of car keys.

"What?" Evie said backing up sharply on the stairs, "But – you need me."

"We'll be fine for one weekend, I need you to relax for a while. You've been working nonstop for weeks. It's time for you to have a little break." Jack told her kissing the top of her head. Then he nudged ever-so-lightly on her back and led her out of the hub through a side tunnel to the garage where they kept the two SUVs (it was also where Gwen, Tosh, and Owen parked their cars). Jack helped Evie into the SUV and kissed her again before closing the door and watching Evie drive off, rather reluctantly.

Evie went home, took a bath to get rid of the crick, packed some clothes and went out for a late lunch. She finally realized it would be stupid to leave on a Thursday afternoon, and she went home. She left the next day about noon and made the two hour drive to Ealing.

_**XX**_

"Evie!" Sarah- Jane sounded excited as she opened the door to find Evie standing on the stoop, "What are you doing here today?"

"I got kicked out of the hub and practically forced out of the city," Evie admitted with a little rueful grin.

"Why on earth?" Sarah-Jane asked stepping aside to let Evie in.

"Gwen and I got into a fight, and put off duty. Then Jack says I've been spending too much time at work. He finally kicked me out. He literally walked me out of the hub!" Evie said in mild outrage, "What's worse is he made me take the whole weekend off, so I can't even go back in till Monday!"

"Why are you so anxious to get back to work?" Sarah-Jane asked with a mildly incredulous look.

"Oh! That's right! I hadn't told you yet," Evie said smacking her own forehead lightly, "Jack and I have started dating, and he spends all his time watching the rift from the hub, that's why I've been taking extra hours, to be with him. But I spent the night Wednesday, at the hub with him. Nothing dirty, don't give me that look!"

"You and Jack?" Sarah-Jane asked leading Evie into the kitchen, "Not what I would have expected."

"I didn't really expect it either," Evie admitted as Sarah-Jane made tea, "It all started because I woke up on the hub couch – naked – and Jack was laid out behind me in a similar state. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what had happened."

"Mum?" Luke's voice called from the front hall.

"I'm in the kitchen Luke," Sarah-Jane called back, "We have a visitor."

"Oh," Luke said walking into the kitchen and seeing Evie perched on the edge of the counter, "Hi Auntie Evie."

"Hey Luke," Evie replied with a grin. Luke was followed into the kitchen by a boy Evie assumed was Clyde from the phone calls (she had never been over when Clyde was before), and a pretty Indian girl Evie didn't recognize from any descriptions.

"Evie, this is Clyde and Rani," Sarah-Jane said gesturing first to the boy, then the girl, "Clyde, Rani, this is Evie Smith."

"So, are you Sarah-Jane's sister?" Clyde asked looking between the two women for any resemblance.

"Oh, no!" Evie said with a wide grin, "I'm Sarah-Jane's aunt!" Clyde's mouth dropped open and Rani looked completely disbelieving.

"How old are you?" Clyde asked after a moment.

"Twenty-six," Evie answered with a grin saying quite clearly that she knew something they didn't, "Time-travel's a bugger isn't it?"

"You travelled forward in time?" Rani asked in amazement.

"No! My older brother got snatched through a rift in time and space in Cardiff! He ended up in 1945, and I was busy at University," Evie said laughing at messing with the kids' heads.

"Evie and I only met a year ago," Sarah-Jane continued with a mildly disapproving look in Evie's direction. Mixing a 26 year old with three teenagers half her age probably wasn't the best idea, "Her current boss contacted me because she was looking for her brother, who had died a number of years previously."

"Where do you work then?" Clyde asked trying to sound disinterested.

"Torchwood," Evie answered, "My boss used to travel with the Doctor like Sarah-Jane here. He runs Torchwood Three monitoring the rift in Cardiff."

"So, do you deal with aliens too?" Rani asked eagerly as Sarah-Jane poured cups of tea for everyone.

"Oh, yeah," Evie said casually, "We've got a weevil called Janet in the holding cells. Every time we've tried to let her back into the sewers she's gone and gotten into trouble. So she just stays with us now. Oh! And we've got Myfanwy. She's a pterodactyl. Plus I got the job because I giant walking fish's blood got in my system and made me convulse."

"Ever saved the world?" Clyde asked probably trying to be superior.

"No, not yet. But with Jack around it's just a matter of time. Well, unless you count the whole 'fairy' incident. We might have saved the world on that one. But it wasn't one of our shining moments," Evie admitted with a grimace as she poured sugar into her tea.

"Fairies?" Rani asked disbelievingly.

"Well, people call them fairies. They're not really," Evie admitted stirring her cup, "They're not even alien. They've been here long before humans, and they take Chosen children. And they would have destroyed the world if we hadn't let them have that little girl. She wanted to go, but it didn't make it any easier letting her. Gwen's not really talking to me or Jack. Arguing sometimes though."

"Gwen?" Sarah-Jane asked, "I meant to ask a minute before, who's Gwen?"

"No, I didn't think I had told you," Evie admitted, "She's new. She used to be a police Constable. But she caught us testing the Resurrection Gauntlet and tracked us down. Jack thought she'd make a good field agent, and a good police liaison especially after she helped us catch Suzie."

"Who is Suzie?" Luke asked furrowing his brow in confusion.

"A woman I used to work with," Evie said sadly, "She had been killing people to test the Resurrection Glove on. Not all evil comes from the stars sadly."

There was a long moment of silence as everyone thought about that.

"Since you've been forced to take the weekend off, why don't you stay here with Luke and me?" Sarah-Jane offered.

"That'd be great! I'm not even allowed to take the SUV back to the hub until Monday morning," Evie admitted, "I'll miss Jack though."

"I think you need a break if he's chased you out of Wales," Sarah-Jane laughed. After a moment Evie joined in feeling much better. She could survive a weekend with family.

_**XX**_

"So, why was I woken at five am by very loud music?" Evie asked sounding severely annoyed looking into Luke's room where he and Clyde were lounging on Luke's bed with music blasting.

"What time is it now?" Clyde asked without even looking up

"Five," Evie grunted out. Why did Clyde and Luke decide to have a sleepover when Evie was staying over? It wasn't very good manners, and besides that they could have at least respected sleep.

"Sorry, Aunt Evie," Luke said turning the music down low so it couldn't be heard once the door was shut.

"Now, I understand you're teenagers, but I have a piece of advice for you," Evie said pulling her dressing gown tighter around her pajamas, "Sleep is good." With that Evie shut the door and went into the room next to it and fell in bed without bothering to take off the dressing gown or pull the covers around her. In moments she was fast asleep.

_**XX**_

After the early morning incident with the music things went smoothly. Evie dragged herself out of bed at seven-thirty and made herself some tea. She was one her third cup when Sarah-Jane came down half an hour later fully dressed and ready for the day. She even looked perky. She hadn't even had tea not to mention coffee!

So unfair.

"Sleep well?" Sarah-Jane asked fixing herself toast.

"Until this morning…yes," Evie said gulping down the last of the latest cup of tea.

"What happened this morning?" Sarah-Jane asked fixing herself a some tea.

"Luke and Clyde put music on loud enough to wake me," Evie told her, "I don't blame them. No doubt I did the same thing when I was younger. Or more likely I had music on at night, and kept everyone from falling asleep."

"Really?" Sarah-Jane asked raising an eyebrow. Just then Clyde and Luke came barreling down the stairs laughing about something (it was probably either something inane or it had to do with the whole 'I-fight-aliens-and-think-it's-normal' thing).

"Guten Morgan," Evie said out of nowhere making everyone look at her in surprise. Who would have thought she spoke another language? Evie started laughing at their expressions, it was just too much really, "That's the only thing I can say. I just wanted to see your expressions. Damn, I should have had a camera!"

"So," Evie said after she had stopped laughing, "Who wants to introduce me to Mr. Smith?"

"Why do you need so see him?" Clyde asked in suspicion.

"Well, because he's alien. And he has ridiculously large databanks that I would love to take a look into. Plus, I want to hi-jack his systems to update the Torchwood archives," Evie said the last with a shrug before getting up and washing her mug.

"There will be no hi-jacking of Mr. Smith's systems," Sarah-Jane told her sternly before leading her upstairs, "I think you'll like him though. He's recently grown a sense of humor."

"After the whole reboot right?" Evie asked following eagerly. A slightly less eager Luke and Clyde trailed behind.

"Yes. With his new directive he's changed completely. It's really impressive," Sarah-Jane replied.

The Attic wasn't that impressive at first look. It had a pillar in the middle with some little table things, and a two separate levels, and a large alcove on the upper layer filled with bookshelves with various states of disarray. But when you looked closer, as Evie did, you realized most of the gadgets were alien, and a number of the books were written in characters even Evie, with her experience with Torchwood's archives, had never seen before. On wall there was what looked a bit like a brick fireplace, from the outside. She you could see the shape, but not the opening for the fire.

It was that spot that Sarah-Jane and the boys focused on.

"Mr. Smith, I need you," Sarah-Jane sang out, obviously in a good mood.

"Good Morning Sarah-Jane. I see we have a guest," Mr. Smith said in a highly formal voice.

"Hello Mr. Smith, I'm Evie," Evie said with an urge to offer her hand for a handshake.

"Hello Evie Smith, Second-in-command at Torchwood Three, Cardiff," Mr. Smith greeted seeming to surprise Clyde. He hadn't been told she was second-in-command obviously.

"Do my records really say Evie Smith as my official name?" Evie asked with an ironic grin.

"Yes, Ms. Evie," Mr. Smith replied.

"I'll have to fix that then," Evie said crossing her arms, "Jack loves to mess with me doesn't he? Oh! Speaking of Jack, can you hack into the secured files of Torchwood concerning Captain Jack Harkness?"

"I'm sorry Ms. Evie. I require an authorization code from the commander of Torchwood Three," Mr. Smith replied.

"Ah, well, it was just a thought," Evie said with a shrug, "He won't tell anyone anything. I don't even know exactly when he started at Torchwood, isn't that nuts? In the last 1800s of course, but that's the best I've got."

"Sarah-Jane," Mr. Smith said as Evie talked to herself quietly about Jack and his secrets, "I have detected an energy spike."

_**XX**_

Of course within fifteen minutes they were well on their way to the site of the spike. Sarah-Jane tried to leave Evie behind, but Evie reminded her that she was a Torchwood operative and had been working with weird stuff almost as long as Luke had been alive. She had been included after that, although they had to take Evie's SUV instead of Sarah-Jane's car (too many people to fit in the little thing no matter how cute it was).

"So, no one is allowed in the very back of the SUV," Evie ordered as Rani ran across the road to join them, "Sarah-Jane's allowed, but I doubt she'd have any interest."

"Why?" Rani asked climbing into the back with Luke and Clyde.

"Because I've got stuff back there that no one without a lot of training should even touch. Like a gun. Oh, don't give me that look Sarah-Jane, I'm leaving it in the car, and it's just an energy spike of chronotrons. The only thing I'm bringing with me is my personal scanner. I built it myself so you don't even have to worry about it being s secretly evil alien creature." Evie said getting into the driver's seat, "Buckle up everyone."

The three teenagers in the back buckled up as they were told and Sarah-Jane followed suit in the front.

Two minutes after they left Sarah-Jane's house everyone was begging that Evie never be allowed to drive again.

"I don't know what everyone's problem with my driving is," Evie said as she swerved around the car that was in front of her almost hitting a car in the other lane in the process, "I mean Owen refuses to get in the car if I'm driving, and Tosh puts on a blindfold and earplugs. Jack even grips the armrests. Just because I drive at a reasonable speed…"

"Evie you are going sixty over the limit," Sarah-Jane gritted out, "Please slow down."

"It's not my fault the Speed Limit is sixty too low," Evie complained not changing her speed at all. It was then that a police car came up behind them with its sirens going. Evie obediently pulled over for all the world like this happened everyday.

"I forgot it's not Cardiff," Evie confessed to Sarah-Jane as she rolled down her window, "In Cardiff they don't stop the SUV, because everyone knows it's Torchwood's."

"You realize you were going Sixty over the limit?" The officer asked with a little pad of paper in his hand. It was probably to write her ticket.

"Well, sir, I was just on my way to deal with a possibly earth-destroying energy source," Evie said with this sweet, innocent little smile that had the officer smiling with her.

"Oh? Was it necessary to endanger lives then?" There a frown replacing the smile with the last bit.

"I'm very sorry, but yes," Evie said leaning forward and looking intense, "I'm really sorry, but we _have_ to get going."

"I still have to give you a ticket," The officer said with a sigh.

"I know, I'm sorry for taking up your time, but we're really in such a rush," Evie said earnestly.

The officer wrote up a ticket (for a much smaller amount than it should have been), and drove off. As he left Evie grinned wickedly over at Sarah-Jane.

"My powers of persuasion just save us one hundred pounds on the ticket," Evie said tucking the ticket under her sun visor along with what looked like two other tickets.

"This happen often then?" Sarah-Jane asked looking at the little slips of paper.

"Oh, yeah," Evie said starting the car back up, "Every time I drive really."

_**XX**_

They were on some sort of promenade, or shopping center, except more run down. Actually, Evie had no idea where they were. Which was a bad thing, because she was sort of their ride home. She had brought (as she promised) a scanner. It looked sleeker and newer and more futuristic than Sarah-Jane's, but it was calibrated to pick up specific energy readings and those specific readings were all to do with time.

Evie had built the scanner a few months after she started at Torchwood, for the sole purpose of research on time and its functions. Of course that was before Jack had ordered her to complete her thesis, but she had wanted to look into things just for the entertainment of it. Time was a mystery after all. It's perceived linearly, but there was no proof that it was actually linear.

Sarah-Jane's and Evie's two devices registered the energy signature as being the same place. So they headed there directly.

The problem was when they had pinpointed the position and gotten close a little boy came running out of the room that they had figured out was the source. So of course before the adults could do anything the teenagers reacted. Namely Clyde.

"Hey, you! Stay there! Stop!" Clyde yelled at the boy. Of course the boy went rocketing away. What confused kid wouldn't do the same. His clothes seemed to indicate a different time. Not because you couldn't still buy the clothes he was wearing, it was just that no kid his age would be caught dead wearing them.

"Get after him!" Sarah-Jane yelled and Clyde and Rani started running while Luke, Evie, and Sarah-Jane spend to a quick jog. Clyde and Rani were left to chasing down the ten-year-old while the other three made their way into the room that the boy had just vacated.

"It's gorgeous," Evie said with a sigh looking almost as much at her scanner as at the fissure itself. The waves and lines of the energy readings and the numbers scrolling down one side of the display were every bit as beautiful as the moving orange field of light in front of them.

"A time fissure," Luke breathed with wonder, "We're staring into time."

"That poor boy must have wandered in and ended up here. It's happened before. Missing people, lost in time," Sarah-Jane said sadly looking at her own readings on the tiny screen of the device she held.

"But if we stepped through there, we could travel in time. Amazing!" Luke said with a helf-step closer to the fissure. Sarah-Jane held out an arm to stop his progress.

"Uh-uh! It's not safe. We'll send the kid home. I'll use the converter to reduce the energy ratio and close the gap. I hope," Sarah-Jane said the last two word with a flippant surety that told Evie she was sure of the sresults.

"We should retcon him," Evie said tapping a button on her device which changed the colors of the disply for better contrast in the darkened room.

"What?" Luke asked looking thoroughly confused by the term.

"It's an amnesia pill," Evie told him looking up at the wave of orange light, "He takes it before he steps through the fissure, he'll have time to get somewhere comfortable, and he'll fall asleep. When he wakes up he won't remember his gaunt through time."

"We can't do that to him," Sarah-Jane gasped.

"Yes, but we have to preserve the timeline and this stuff has been approved for use since the 1910s. It's Jack's own formula, come from the 51st century, and I'm in charge of the usage, and I know the exact dosage for anyone," Evie said using her 'convincing powers' (as Clyde had labeled them not ten minutes ago) on her niece and great-nephew, "Besides there's not been a single bad reaction, except once in the 1920s when someone was dosed sixteen separate times by someone without the proper experience to know the dosages. And even then, the damage was reversible using a piece of alien tech in the archives."

"NO," Sarah-Jane answered resolutely, "We are not Torchwood. And we will not become them."

"Not quite right," Evie said calmly, "_You all_, aren't Torchwood and won't become them. _I'm_ already Torchwood. And it's far too late to keep me from becoming one of them."

Before the argument could escalate Clyde and Rani came running in with the little boy between them.

"Sarah-Jane! We got him," Clyde announced proudly making his way across the room.

"What's going on?" the boy asked sounding worried from behind Clyde.

"Don't worry everything's going to be all right," Rani told him pushing him very lightly, to nudge him towards Luke and the two older women.

"Hello. What's your name?" Sarah-Jane asked turning around to look at him. The boy really wasn't that bad. He had combed-over black hair and he was wearing round black glasses. In fact he reminded Evie a little of how she imagined Harry Potter probably looked during the first book. Granted his eyes weren't green, and his clothes were well made and obviously originally his (and outdated, but the poor boy couldn't help that).

But then again, he looked like the kind of kid who was a smarmy git.

"Oscar. Who are you lot? Where am I?" he asked looking scared. But then Evie saw a glint in his eye. He was acting. He was a very good actor, but he was acting (and overdramatizing things).

"Don't worry about that. You're going home, Oscar," Sarah-Jane said with a gentle smile and she turned to her device for a half second to press a button on it. It opened up a doorway into the fissure. Then Sarah-Jane continued, "Just step through. You'll be safe. There's nothing to be scared of."

"Go through. I promise you'll be safe," Rani said with a gentle voice and smile like she was talking to a petulant three-year-old.

"No. I'm scared," Oscar refused. Sarah-Jane was about to act when Evie spoke.

"I'll walk you through," Evie said with her 'charming' smile, "I've always wanted to travel through time." Evie held out her hand and it looked like Oscar was going to refuse when Evie gave him a hard look. So Oscar took her hand reluctantly and let Evie lead him through.

"Don't you dare retcon him!" Sarah-Jane called.

"I already got told off," Evie said rolling her eyes," I won't." With that Evie walked into the fissure with Oscar holding her hand and trailing behind.

On the other side was a grassy meadow and an old windmill.

"What are you playing?" Evie asked gripping the boy's hand tighter to keep him from running off, 'You were lying and acting and I want to know what that fuck you're up to."

"I was sent," Oscar said with n angry grimace as he tried to free his hand.

"Why?" Evie asked gripping even tighter.

"To lure Sarah-Jane Smith to this time and place,"

"Why?" Evie asked, "Sarah-Jane wouldn't let anyone abuse time travel. She traveled with the Doctor. She wouldn't come back here unless there was something amazing about it. What's the emotional attachment?"

"It's Foxgrove," Oscar grunted pulling on his hand again, "Tell her it's Foxgrove of July 1951. She won't be able to stop herself." Oscar was laughing at the last even as he struggled with his hand.

"What if I don't tell her?" Evie asked not easing her grip.

"You'll miss it all," Oscar said with an evil looking grin, "All the action and excitement. Ask Sarah-Jane about Foxgrove. She'll tell you everything."

"Maybe I will, and maybe I won't," Evie said releasing Oscar's hand in a way that pushed his smaller form away from her, "I should retcon you after all. But then Sarah-Jane would kill me if she ever found out."

Evie sighed and looked at the boy again before turning and leaving through the portal she just exited just a moment before.

_**XX**_

When Evie exited the fissure she had adopted a pseudo-happy looking grin, and at Sarah-Jane's concerned expression she laughed.

"I didn't retcon him," Evie said placating the older woman, "I promise his memories are completely intact."

Rani and Clyde pause for a moment not having heard the conversation earlier. But then they crowded her with questions.

"How did it go?" Rani asked eagerly.

"Interesting," Evie admitted truthfully, "I think I've learned all kinds of new things about the nature of time, and my scanner was functioning the whole time, so I undoubtedly got some good scans of travel through the fissure."

"And Oscar?" Sarah-Jane asked sternly.

"He was running off to the village out there when I came back here," Evie told her truthfully.

"Where did it lead?" Clyde asked. Evie paused for half a moment to consider what might happen if she told the truth, and decided she would, and she would keep a close eye on Sarah-Jane to keep her from doing anything stupid. Be a good aunt and all that.

"Foxgrove, July 1951," Evie admitted watching Sarah-Jane's reaction from the corner of her eye. Sarah-Jane had frozen an expression of confusion and a dilemma written across her face, "Not interesting really. Just a little town in the countryside. Pretty, but I can get a similar view up in Wales."

A moment later Sarah-Jane had collected herself and she announced, "Right, better close it up."

"We could go through there into another time. We might never get the chance again," Rani said trying (and mostly succeeding) to sound convincing. Evie should give her lessons, with a little practice she could get out of more tickets than even Evie. Of course, she was probably less likely to get them even after she started driving.

"Can't we just have a look? Five minutes?" Clyde begged. Evie looked to Sarah-Jane. She was struggling a little, but she finally answered.

"No, I'm sorry, Clyde. But it's too dangerous. You've seen it in the movies, you go back, change one tiny thing, it has terrible consequences," Sarah-Jane said convincingly. Evie inwardly sighed in relief. She knew she wasn't done being 'good aunt' but at least she wasn't going to have to stop catastrophe right that moment.

"But you've traveled through time in the TARDIS," Rani complained.

"Yeah she did. But she was travelling with the Doctor, and he's a Time Lord with a lot of experience. And he travels in a time machine, which probably helps to protect from paradoxes," Evie told her crossing her arms and looking over to Sarah-Jane who nodded in agreement before touching a button on her device. The fissure in front of them became unstable, wiggling around a bit as it shrunk. Until suddenly it was gone.

"Job done. Let's go home," Sarah-Jane said in a monotone staring at the place where the fissure had been. The three teenagers filed out, and Sarah-Jane followed them, letting Evie bring up the rear. Just before Sarah-Jane left, she turned like she was going to have one of those dramatic looking back at something amazing and terrible and sad moments, but when she saw Evie behind her she moved out quickly.

Evie stopped herself and stared a moment through the door as it shut, before taking the last few steps forward and grabbing the door handle just before the door swung shut. She pulled it open sharply and left the room without looking back.

_**XX**_

Evie watched Sarah-Jane carefully when she went up to the Attic, right after they got back to the house, but she had no reason to stop the older woman, and instead started a simple dinner of Spag Bol. Luke had followed Sarah-Jane upstairs, and Evie assumed she could get Luke to tell her what had happened. She was, after all, Luke's favorite aunt.

It was close to an hour after that when the two came down the stairs to find Evie setting the table and pouring glasses of milk for all three of them.

"You didn't need to cook," Sarah-Jane protested when she realized that Evie had already finished all of dinner.

"Well, you seemed off about something," Evie said bringing the food over to the table, 'So I figured I'd help a little since I was already down here, and I am imposing a little."

"You could tell?" Sarah-Jane said her shoulders slumping a little.

"I think Clyde and Rani missed it," Evie told her comfortingly, "But you froze the very second I said where the fissure let out. What's the big deal about this place?"

"It's the town where I was born," Sarah-Jane said after a long moment of silence. In the pause Evie dished food onto her own plate and passed the dish over to Luke, "The month before my parents died."

Evie dropped her fork and looked up at Sarah-Jane with her eyes wide. She had known the date of her brother's death, but she had never known a location. Suddenly it made sense why Sarah-Jane could be lured with that time. In fact Evie could just as easily be lured herself. A chance to see her big brother again…

"Aethelred?" Evie asked her voice quiet and timid in a way that neither Luke nor Sarah-Jane had ever heard it before.

"Yes," Sarah-Jane admitted dishing her own dinner.

"Do you think we could get away with seeing him?" Evie asked her eyes wide, "Just for a moment. I haven't seen him in years, and he's my brother."

"I was considering the same thing," Sarah-Jane admitted as they all dug into her food half-heartedly, "A chance to see my parents, just once. Maybe see why they left me." The last was added quietly, almost like she wasn't sure if she wanted Evie to hear at all.

"They left you?" Evie asked incredulously, "I know my brother didn't like little kids, but he put up with me well enough, and I can't see why he would leave his own child. He was attached to family. We were the most important things to him when we were kids. I can't see his family as an adult being any different."

"My Aunt Levine said much the same thing. But I could never quite believe her," Sarah-Jane told her quietly, "They just left me in my pram next to the road. They just abandoned me."

"There must have been something really huge going on to bring Aethelred to that," Evie said shaking her head. She started eating, and it effectively ended the conversation.

_**XX**_

Evie decided that instead of sleeping in the guest room upstairs, she would sleep on the couch downstairs (completely dressed with socks and shoes). She was fairly sure that Sarah-Jane was going to at least try to go back in time through the fissure.

Of course, if Sarah-Jane went Evie could say she was just going to keep the older woman from doing anything rash. That was, of course, a blatant lie. Evie was dressed in a long blue skirt and simple white blouse that she couldn't remember why she chose to bring. The skirt had a slight poof to it, so she figured it probably wouldn't look too out of place in 1951. But then, Evie had never really been into history. As much as time and the concept of time fascinated her, the idea of what happened during certain times never held any interest to her.

But Evie felt she was right when Luke came down and stood in the shadows behind the stairs, not even noticing Evie sitting in the equally dark room on the other side of the stairs. Then they found themselves correct when they heard the floor upstairs creaking ever- so-quietly until they saw Sarah-Jane by the door.

"Leaving without me?" Evie asked leaning on the doorframe now. She had moved as soon as they heard the creak.

"I see you've dressed for the occasion," Sarah-Jane commented looking at Evie's outfit. Although both pieces were things that it was easy to imagine Evie wearing, the combination looked a bit fifty's retro, and it was obvious what she was about.

"Of course," Evie said raising an eyebrow, "I see you have too. Pink looks good on you."

"Don't leave without me," Luke said stepping forward.

"Wouldn't even think of it," Evie replied opening the door and letting the other two Smiths out.

_**XX**_

"Are we sure we should do this?" Sarah-Jane said getting jitters at the last moment.

"Yes, because I want to know what the hell my brother was thinking leaving his kids without parents," Evie said using Sarah-Jane's device to open the fissure, "Come along Smiths." With that Evie stepped through and found herself in the same midday meadow above the village.

A moment later Sarah-Jane and Luke followed her through and the fissure shut itself behind them, rather abruptly.

"Will we be able to open it? Or should we travel to Cardiff to give a note to Jack to call his Doctor?" Evie asked lazily, as though she traveled through strange fissures in time everyday.

"Yes, it should be perfectly fine," Sarah-Jane said looking at the device that Evie had tossed into her hands after opening the fissure back.

"Then let's go find my brother and figure all this out," Evie said leading them down a worn path through the meadow. It really was some very nice countryside, but as Evie had told everyone earlier it wasn't anything she couldn't find in Wales in she went out of the city a little ways.

The village was very small, but it was pretty. The village square had a monument of some kind, and there was a sign pointing towards some field off on the other side of the village from where they had come in.

"Looks like everyone will be there," Evie commented and the trio followed the signs to a pretty little small-town carnival type thing. It was like a big barbeque, or something. There were sack races and tossing games, and food, and tents full of things that Evie wasn't quite sure of.

"Look at this," Evie said looking around eagerly, "I've never been to something like this. This would have been a great date if Jack were here. I mean look, it's a prefect date." Evie said the last with a happy spin to take a look all around her.

"Maybe," Sarah-Jane said with a little smile. Evie's mood seemed so happy and energetic that Sarah-Jane and Luke couldn't seem to help but smile at her antics. Evie seemed more alive now than she had the whole time Sarah-Jane had known her. It was like she was missing something that used to be a part of her, and now it had gone missing.

"Sarah-Jane," A voice said in a cooing baby voice. The three time-travelers turned to look around at the voice. It was a young woman (maybe three years older than Evie at the very most) and she was holding a baby wrapped in a white blanket.

"She's beautiful," Evie said offhandedly looking at the little girl, "She reminds me a lot of my brother. She looks a lot like his baby pictures."

"Barbara where's—" A man said walking over to where Evie and Barbara were, "Evie? You shouldn't be here!"

"Hello Aethelred," Evie said wrapping her arms around her beloved older brother, "I've missed you so much."

"Evie!" Aethelred said unnecessarily before drawing Evie close to him in a tight hug. In seconds they were both crying and laughing and being completely emotional.

"Evie? Your sister Evie?" Barbara asked as the two siblings began to calm down.

"Yes, Barbara, meet my little sister. And Evie, I want you to meet Barbara, my beautiful wife," Aethelred said pulling away from Evie, but one of his arms was still looped lightly over Evie's shoulders.

"Hello Barbara," Evie said stepping forward and offering her hand to shake, "And I want you two to meet my niece Sarah-Jane and my great-nephew Luke."

Barbara and Aethelred both froze completely and looked over at the older woman and the fourteen-year-old boy standing a little ways back from Evie. There was a moment was intense staring before Barbara rocketed forward and wrapped Sarah-Jane in a hug. The older woman looked awkward for about half a minute before she wrapped her own arms around her mother she had never known.

"So, Aethelred, I heard you changed your name. What on earth for?" Evie asked after Barbara and Sarah-Jane started their own conversation about something.

"Well, Eddie's a bit easier to say isn't it? Besides if my records say Eddie Smith instead of Aethelred Smith my accent makes more sense," Aethelred said making his accent exaggerated for just a moment.

"Are you ashamed to be Welsh?" Evie asked with a faked shock at the very idea, "I'll have you know I live in Cardiff these days."

"Really?" Aethelred asked with true surprise.

"Yeah, I moved up to Wales after Mam died. She left you the house and everything in it by the way," Evie said looking over at him, "I wasn't even mentioned in the will. I've been wondering if maybe everything I remember is fake."

"No," Aethelred said grasping Evie's shoulders and turning her to look him in the eye, "I promise that much of what you remember is real. Just a few things were fubbed okay? I can't tell you why, because you made me promise not to tell you. But you have to believe me that everything will be okay."

"Why did I make you promise? When did I?" Evie asked with a broken look on her face, like her very last option had been torn from her fingers.

"I can't tell you," Aethelred said with a sad shake of his head, "C'mon. You look like you need a drink. I know you don't like them, but sometimes you just need to get roaring drunk." With that Eddie dragged off his little sister to a tent which was serving alcohol, and bought her an ale, and watched as she drank it down.

Evie drank another and another after that until she had finally gotten herself completely pissed, and Aethelred took her out of the tent and half-carried her to a bench near the booth he and Barbara were supposed to be manning and laid her down as she sobbed.

"I just want everything to be normal!" She wailed looking up in Eddie's general direction, her eyes unfocused, "I just want a normal boyfriend and a house and a normal job. But I have Torchwood, and I think I've fallen to Jack. And he's not normal!" She was wailing and sobbing and it was suddenly very clear why she should never be drunk.

After close to twenty minutes of all this she was coughing and hiccupping and her eyes were drooping.

"I'm sorry Evie," Eddie whispered as she was drifting off, "I just can't tell you."

_**XX**_

"My damn head," Evie groaned sitting up almost two hours later. It was long enough for the alcohol to have mostly worked through her system. It was odd, because it took almost everyone Evie knew hours longer for alcohol to get through their systems.

It was then that Evie looked up and realized she was indoors somewhere.

"What happened?" Evie asked turning her head slowly to see if anyone was nearby. Eddie, Barbara, Sarah-Jane, and Luke were nowhere to be seen. But an older woman (perhaps around five years older than Sarah-Jane) was nearby and seemed to be the right person to ask.

"The weather took a sudden turn for the worst," The woman said calmly, and semi-quietly, which was great for the state of Evie's head.

"Like, unnaturally sudden?" Evie asked wondering about the concerned look on the woman's face. She didn't seem like the type to feel sympathy for someone who drank herself into a fit, and passed out.

"Well, yes, I suppose that's one way to put it," The woman replied and looked towards the door. While the woman was turned away Evie sat up, disregarding her killer headache, and the rebelling of her stomach and got off her bench. When the woman turned back she had a scolding look on her face, "You really shouldn't be getting up. I know what that kind of alcohol does to people."

"I'm sorry, but I have to find my brother," Evie told her, "And that can't exactly wait. Not if things are going strange, like they tend to around me."

At that moment a distressed Rani came running through the doors looking completely out of place in her jeans and leather jacket.

"Where's Sarah-Jane?" She asked in distress.

"Don't know," Evie said walking over to the girl, "How about we go find her. She'll have been tracing a signal of some kind. So we'll just trace their temporal distortions." Evie said pulling her streamlined device out of her pocket.

Two seconds later they were off tracing a signal.

There were a total of five temporal disturbances, but two of them were Rani and Evie, so Evie went chasing after the other three, which were conveniently grouped together. Which also meant that their friends and family were either in danger, or about to be.

When they entered the abbot's churchyard Rani immediately ran to Sarah-Jane with some weird message about the 'abbot's gate.'

"So, Eddie, what did you do this time?" Evie asked in a half-playful voice.

"_I_ didn't do anything," Eddie told her looking significantly at his daughter.

"Sarah-Jane if you've brought Reavers down on us, so help me god I'm going to steal Mr. Smith and all your alien dealing rights," Evie told her with a glare.

"They're my parents!" Sarah-Jane protested.

"Yeah, he's my big brother," Evie said staring at her, "And if there was a non-paradox way to save him I'd be all for it. But because the very act of saving his life creates a paradox, because a man is living who should not have been…I'm sorry Eddie, but there's nothing I can do."

"That's okay," Eddie said grasping Evie's shoulder lightly, "You've been babbling about time your whole life. I have an idea of how it works."

With that Eddie and Barbara left the churchyard, almost as if Eddie knew exactly what was about to happen. It's possible he did, but whether or not he did, the Trickster began to manifest himself in the 'abbot's gateway.'

There was some shouting and arguing and Evie stayed out of it. She had never dealt with the Trickster before, but he didn't seem like a character to want to deal with. So she let Sarah-Jane do the talking.

They eventually left, because Sarah-Jane was going to fix the car. Evie knew that neither she nor Sarah-Jane could ever tell Eddie and Barbara to drive off to their deaths, but Evie also knew that Eddie would do it. As soon as he realized how time was supposed to go, he would do what he had to, and the very idea brought tears to Evie's eyes.

In the village square Sarah-Jane made use of her sonic lipstick and fixed the car (which shuddered completely unrealistically, and Evie had to wonder whether or not Sarah-Jane was just showing off), and the four time travellers stood next to the car unable to move or think of leaving, because they were about to lose two very good people.

"Evie," Eddie said coming up the road with Sarah-Jane in her pram, and Barbara walking beside them. Somehow it seemed sad and dramatic, but maybe it was just Evie's knowledge of what was about to happen making it so.

"Aethelred," Evie said her voice choked with emotion. They stood a few feet apart for a moment before Evie flung herself at her older brother, "Don't leave me alone again."

"I'm not," Eddie said hugging her and rocking a little from side to side, "You have my daughter, and my grandson, and you were babbling earlier about your boyfriend and your friends at work. And I'll always be here for you. Maybe next time you travel in time you'll come see me."

"I can't make time travel work, there are too many missing numbers, and some of my concepts don't work…" Evie babbled clinging to her brother.

"You'll see me again," Eddie whispered into her hair before releasing her, still sobbing, and went to say goodbye to his daughter (both of them), and Luke.

They all had a moment of emotion as Eddie and Barbara got into the car. But just before Eddie drove the car up the road, he opened the window.

"Evie!" He called to his sister who had turned away, "Go see my older three too, yeah? Introduce them to the universe. And never forget that time is just a little 'wibbly-wobbly.'" The last Eddie said with a wide grin confusing the hell out of everyone in the square (even baby Sarah-Jane seemed to have a confounded look on her face).

With those last words Eddie and Barbara had driven off, and that was the last of the lives of two horrible brave people.

_**XX**_

The four travellers returned to their own time, not a one of them looking back at the village where the baby Sarah-Jane would be found soon, and passed off to her aunt as soon as they realize that Eddie and Barbara were dead. The place where Eddie and Barbara were even down driving into a tractor, which would kill them instantly. The place where even now time was fixing itself, and the Trickster was being sent into the nothingness from which he came.

On the other side of the fissure Clyde was waiting looking excited and happy. He expression drooped a bit when he realized that Evie's eyes were red-rimmed, and her face was covered in tearstains, and that Luke and Sarah-Jane looked on the verge of tears, and Rani looked solemn and serious. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that something bad had just happened.

The whole group took Evie's SUV back to Sarah-Jane's and Evie locked herself in the guest bedroom, while Sarah-Jane retreated to the Attic. Rani and Clyde went back to their homes, and Luke was left in the front hall looking lost. He finally went up and comforted his mum, who seemed to be in the better shape of the two, but also seemed to be the type to bottle emotions more.

While Luke and Sarah-Jane talked in the Attic, Evie cried herself to sleep.

_**XX**_

Evie went back to Cardiff the next day, in the morning. But instead of going home she went to the hub. She parked the SUV in the garage and took the tunnel into the upper archives. The hub was empty. There was probably a weevil chase going, and Evie dropped her weekend bag on her desk before taking the steps up to Jack's office.

She sat in Jack's big comfy desk chair and dozed off.

When she woke she was definitely in a bed. And if forced to guess, she would figure it was Jack's bed, because it was a rather hard bed in a small space, and if someone had tried to carry her any long way, she would have woken.

It took Evie a moment to realize not only was she in Jack's bed; she was in Jack's bed with Jack lying next to her.

"Morning Evie," Jack said wrapping an arm around the blond.

"Morning Jack," Evie murmured turning to look over at him.

"You okay?" Jack asked with true concern, and it just brought the few barriers Evie had managed to build between herself and the pain crumbling down.

Jack just held her and let her cry for hours, until she was cried herself out again, and was calm.

"Ianto should be in, do you want me to get you some tea, or coffee?" Jack asked brushing Evie's disheveled hair out of her face.

"No, just stay with me?" Evie said looking straight into Jack's blue eyes, full of so many years and so many emotions.

"Sure," Jack said pulling her close. Evie fell asleep in his arms again.

When she woke Jack wasn't there, but she wasn't that worried about it. She was just wondering why he had bothered to stay as long as he had.

_**XX**_

_**So…this chapter was very relationship centered, but I did have a lot of clues about who Evie is, and I'm hoping to hear some speculation from your guys now that I've dropped more hints.**_

_**Originally I was going to do a different Sarah-Jane Adventure's episode, but then I saw this one and I realized that "The Temptation of Sarah-Jane" would be a great way to drop some clues. So there was a lot of stuff about time going on in here, as well as all the stuff about Eddie and Evie's relationship, and Sarah-Jane and Evie's relationship and I had a good Jack/Evie moment at the end, which I love really. Especially the last line.**_

_**Remember this is just after Small Worlds, and Evie will be insecure in her relationship because of the whole Jack/Estelle thing, and also Gwen's obvious attraction to Jack.**_

_**So, please everyone tell me what you think of this chapter, and whether or not you would like to see more of Sarah-Jane and her team.**_


	8. Cannibals and Blackouts

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during Coutrycide, Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is right after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

"Hey, you feeling better?" Jack asked when Evie came up later.

"Yeah," Evie said more shyly than she normally would have, "Thanks for staying with me. You didn't have to."

"Yes I did," Jack said looking Evie straight in the eyes. He was being completely honest. But whether it was some sort of dutiful feeling, or some kind of true affection, Evie had no clue. But whatever it was, it was deep, and Evie felt a deep warmth in her chest.

Maybe the two of them could be serious one day. Maybe Jack would agree to be called her boyfriend, or refer to her as his girlfriend. Because there was something more than the lack of labels in the 51st century going on with Jack's reticence.

_**XX**_

"So, gang," Jack said suddenly two weeks later coming down from his office with a grin, "We're going to the countryside.

"I'll stay," Owen said immediately.

"No, you won't," Jack replied still grinning, "May need a doctor on this one. Real doctor, not just Tosh's basic medic training."

"Where in the countryside?" Evie asked wiggling her toes against the ground. She had turned when Jack came down the stairs and her legs were extended as far as they would go into the walkway.

"Just, you know, a couple miles," Jack said with a shrug, "Twenty or thirty maybe."

"That's more than a couple," Owen exclaimed in outrage.

"Yeah it is," Evie replied with a shrug looking over at the only man with the desk on the 'office' floor, "But we're going, so it doesn't matter."

"Of course you'd agree with your shag," Owen said belligerently.

"Hmm, he is a nice shag. The things he can do with his hands…But I think it's more, I'm agreeing with my boss in this case." Evie said smiling at how uncomfortable Owen looked, "You shouldn't have mentioned it if you didn't want to hear it."

"So what kind of shit do we have to do?" Owen asked ignoring Evie's comment.

"Whatever shit Jack tells you to do?" Evie said grinning over at Owen, her grin a twin to Jack's.

"I suddenly understand why you two are together," Owen said looking from one to the other.

_**XX**_

"I hate the countryside," Owen was complaining three hours later. It was a Friday, and Owen had probably been looking forward to going out and getting trashed, "It's dirty, it's unhygienic. And what is that smell?"

"That would be grass," Gwen replied obviously annoyed with him. Owen looked over the seat at Gwen from his place in the back of the SUV (the part that had long since been converted for storage).

"It's disgusting," Owen said nastily.

"I'm not driving," Evie commented from the front seat next to Jack who was driving, "Why is everyone complaining?"

"Yeah, about those seven tickets you left me," Jack said looking over at her.

"I never said I was a cheap date," Evie said with a shrug making Gwen, Tosh, and Ianto in the back seat laugh. Owen in the far back was still grumbling about the countryside (and was unlikely to laugh at anything Evie said anyway, just to spite her), and Jack was not amused. Of course, a not-cheap date might cost a guy a hundred pounds, but Evie was costing him something close to nine hundred pounds, and it hadn't even been a date.

"Yeah? Well it wasn't even a date!" Jack said exasperated.

"Not my fault. It would have been a great date all the way up to the point where Eddie revealed that he knew more about me than I did, and I got really drunk. It was great for the five minutes or so before that," Evie told him with a smile.

"A five minute date I wasn't even there for is costing me just shy of nine hundred pounds? We need to work on this dating thing," Jack said shaking his head. The peanut gallery behind them was laughing merrily at the exchange. It even looked like Owen was smiling.

_**XX**_

It was almost an hour and a half later that they stopped in a field (already occupied by a yellow van with a trailer saying "LAST STOP" on it serving burgers), for lunch. Jack, Gwen, Tosh, and Evie were gathered around a map that Jack had spread over the hood of the SUV while Ianto bought burgers for Jack, Gwen, Owen, and himself. Evie had a lunch bag she had somehow managed to pack in the two hours she had between the announcement of a road trip and actually getting into the SUV, and she had packed enough food for everyone to eat for three days in the back of the SUV.

Why it was Evie packing the food and not Ianto had confused the team, but she had just smiled and said dinner was her treat. Apparently she was going to make something special, and needed to do the shopping herself for it.

"Seventeen disappearances within the last five months. Police are clueless," Jack said his hand resting on the map.

"Now there's a surprise. No offence, PC Cooper," Owen grumbled, looking only slightly less angry at the situation when he looked over at Gwen.

"The last known whereabouts of each one is somewhere around here," Jack continued pretending Owen hadn't said anything. It wasn't hard. The entire team had been getting practice in ignoring Owen from either the time he started (Jack and Tosh), or the time they did (Evie, Ianto, and Gwen).

"All within a twenty-mile radius," Tosh commented looking at the place Jack had marked out with his finger. Evie was staring at the names listed around and in the area. There was the name of the road they were parked next to, the name of some minor river Evie had never heard of before that day, and a town that looked like it was almost too small to merit a name on the map at all.

"Anything else linking them?" Gwen asked while Evie was distracted.

"None of the bodies have ever been found. These people just fell off the radar. No patterns in age, sex, race. One minute they're here, the next ... boof. Gone," Jack said sadly. It really was a problem. If it was any kind of alien it was their responsibility, and if it wasn't they could pass on the info to the police to deal with it. They probably wouldn't have been there if there had been anything projected for the next three weeks on the rift predictor.

"The rift doesn't spread out this far. Does it?" Gwen asked looking only at Jack. Which was stupid, because, while Jack had been there longer, Evie and Tosh were the ones who studied the damn thing and made rift predictors and manipulators and made them work, and studied smaller fissures in time and space unrelated to the rift in order to better understand how they work.

"No clue," Evie said with a shrug, "Never have we recorded anything coming out this far, but the rift is unpredictable and doesn't tend to follow patterns. That's why Tosh and I have been studying it when we have slow times between emergencies. We're trying to get a 100% match on the exact pattern of rift activity so we can predict better, but the radius hasn't gone more than three miles outside of Cardiff in any direction in the history of the rift. So we have sensors going out five miles in every direction. We've never bothered to go further out because there's never been activity out that far. Any aliens out this far…they probably came in a ship with full knowledge of what was going on.

Evie could not understand exactly what it was that grated on her about Gwen. Gwen was a sweet enough woman. She was former police, and Evie had never had problems with the police, or authority figures in general when she was younger. Gwen had a steady boyfriend, but then so did Evie so it wasn't jealousy…Maybe it was the way Gwen sometimes looked at Jack. It was as though she considered throwing away her whole happy life sometimes just for a one night stand with Jack. _That_ was what pissed Evie off. Gwen had a great life, sure Torchwood made things complicated, but the rest of it was all good for Gwen. She had loving parents, a loving boyfriend (who would probably ask her to marry him within the next year), a nice flat, and good pay. Nothing to complain about. But there she was lusting after someone else's boyfriend.

As Evie was thinking things through Ianto made his way back to the group ,and Owen decided to make his own input into the conversation.

"Come on, aliens aren't gonna bother hanging around out here. Probably some sort of weird suicide club with people choosing the same spot to end it all. God knows, if I had to spend too long up here, I'd want to top myself," Owen said derisively, as though they hadn't found aliens in weirder places. Like Scotland. It had been an alien werewolf and the alien Doctor (called Sir Doctor of Tardis in the official documents about the subject) which got Queen Victoria to start Torchwood after all.

Ianto passed Owen a burger first, most likely because he was the closest to the burger stand and the furthest from the group around the SUV's hood.

"Here you go. Careful, they're hot. Sure you don't want anything, Tosh? Evie?" Ianto asked as he handed burgers to Gwen and Jack both.

"Really sure," Tosh said looking disdainfully at the burgers as Jack and Gwen unwrapped theirs. Gwen takes a large bite as Tosh continued, "A friend of mine caught hepatitis off a burger from one of these places."

Jack set his burger down, and Gwen made a face but finished chewing and swallowed what she had put in her mouth.

"That wasn't exactly my reason," Evie commented with a slightly bemused smile at Gwen's reaction, "But it is a good one. I just don't like burgers much, I'd prefer a bacon sandwich. Which happens to be my lunch for today." Evie said unwrapping her foil wrapped sandwich.

"We'll start with the most recent victim, Ellie Johnson. We last have record of her making a phone call. She dropped out of signal mid-call. The coverage map has her placed...somewhere about here," Jack pointed to a spot on the map, and Evie leaned over to look at it, "Looks as good a place as any to set up camp."

At that last word Owen froze like a deer in the headlights. He had his burger halfway to his mouth and there was this half-shocked half-disgusted expression on his face.

"Sorry, did you say 'camp'?" Owen asked finally.

"I do believe that you were sitting on a pile of tents for a reason," Evie told him as Jack broke out a movie-star grin, the kind that makes you sure he had planned all this just to piss Owen off.

_**XX**_

When they reached the place Jack had pointed out as a good camping spot everyone had to help unload things from the back of the SUV. Tosh and Evie had one tent most of the way up, and Gwen and Ianto had put the other up in the time it took Jack to get Owen out of the SUV, and to help him carry the heavy third tent. Owen obviously wasn't happy with this new demand on him, and he was making his protests very vocal.

"What's the matter with a hotel?" Owen whined as he hefted the third tent across the field with Jack. Evie was smirking at the whole situation. If she hadn't known better she probably would have suspected that Jack had made the whole thing up just to get Owen camping out in the countryside.

"People are going missing round here. D'you really wanna stay in a place run by strangers?" Jack asked with a smirk of his own.

"Cos sleeping outside is a lot safer," Owen grumbled half bowed under the weight of the tent.

"No other race in the universe goes camping. Celebrate your own uniqueness," Jack told hime before dropping his end of the tent on the ground close to where Tosh was knocking in the last stake for one of the other tents. Owen just stared at the tent for a long moment.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Owen asked looking up from the bundle of gear. Tosh was close at hand and took a few steps closer to Owen.

"Need a hand getting it up, Owen?" Tosh asked eagerly, obviously crushing on Owen. It was sad to see. Tosh was such a bright, beautiful woman, and she wanted to saddle herself with Owen, the grouchy, drunk, doctor who wouldn't give her the time of day.

"If I did, I wouldn't ask you," Owen grumbled making the smile on Tosh's face slide right off.

"You know, then no one can help you," Evie told Owen with a fake grin, "Because the only person who wanted to obviously isn't welcome. I'm assuming you've never been camping before? Have fun."

Owen kicked the bundle of tent and poles and other bits and bobs that went into putting a tent up. Owen angrily pulled the bundle open and started to pull parts out. Only once he had removed everything did he take a moment to look at what he had just pulled from the bundle.

"Some pieces are missing!" Owen called out across the field. It was Ianto who answered him.

"No. I checked," Ianto replied his back turned to the other man. He was facing Evie and he held out his hand showing two of the stakes Owen would need to put the tent up. Evie grinned and wandered off to find Jack.

She found him sitting in the back of the SUV drinking what looked suspiciously like pink lemonade, which Evie did not remember packing.

"So, how are the tentmates broken up?" Evie asked taking a seat next to Jack.

"I don't know? Who do we want injured enough to not be able to work next week?" Jack asked looking over at her.

"We have three tents, four people. Two to a tent makes sense. I'm thinking Gwen and Tosh in one," Evie said pretending to be musing, "And we could always put me and Ianto together…"

"Yes, that could work," Jack said in his own pretending-to-muse voice, "Or, you and I could share a tent and shove Ianto and Owen in one and see who comes out of it alive."

"I like that plan," Evie said with a grin before resting her head of Jack's shoulder.

_**XX**_

Gwen, Tosh, and Evie were all gathered around the boxes of camping supplies and food 'sorting' it. What was really happening was Gwen was asking questions of Evie and Tosh who refused to answer while attempting to ignore her.

"Oh, come on! It's just a bit of fun! Who was the last person you snogged?" Gwen asked and Owen (still putting up his tent a little ways away) turned to look at Gwen.

"See! You even sound like an eight-year-old!" Owen complained dropping his tent. Jack was watching from the front seat of the SUV, and Ianto was watching from a short distance off behind the tent the girls were grouped around. Owen continued meanly, "Who the hell says "snog"?"

"Mine was ... Rhys!" Gwen said excitedly, ignoring Owen.

"Yeah, well, there's a surprise," Owen said sourly stepping closer to the girls.

"Tosh, your go," Gwen said looking over at the Japanese woman.

"It's easy for you!" Tosh protested looking to Evie to save her.

"I'll go first," Evie said with a grin, "It was Jack obviously! But you know, my brother gave me a rather nice kiss when I was hopelessly drunk in the past."

"You never really explained, "Tosh said trying to change the subject, "How did you get to 1951."

"Time Fissure, it functions on a similar concept as the Rift, but it a MUCH smaller scale, and less permanent," Evie told Tosh giving her a look that said she'd have to continue with the 'who'd you kiss game.' "Your turn Tosh, who was your last serious kiss?"

"Owen," Tosh said with a sigh. Gwen and Owen both looked shocked but Evie just nodded, she remembered seeing that in the CCTV that night. She hadn't had anywhere to go, and she'd been watching over them, because Owen was too drunk to function.

"What?" Owen said blinking in shock. He obviously didn't remember his drunk escapades.

"Really?" Gwen asked looking somehow morbidly curious.

"Tosh, in your dreams," Owen said obviously thinking it was a joke.

"3 am, Christmas Eve, in front of the Millennium Centre. Waiting for a cab. I had mistletoe," Tosh said pointing out the facts. Again Evie found herself nodding.

"I was watching over you guys that night. Owen was too drunk to function, and if I remember correctly the rest of you were all a little tipsy. But even as drunk as Owen was; he still wouldn't let me drive him home!" Evie said with a grin. Owen frowned over at the younger woman.

"I'm glad even completely sloshed I had enough sense. I might as well be driving sloshed as you drive me home," Owen told her with a mild glare. Evie just sent him her cheekiest grin.

"But at least I _never_ get drunk. In my whole life I have never once been drunk, and my driving is consistent at least," Evie told him, "And, there's always the fact that I can charm my way out ot a ticket one out of every two times."

"You got seven tickets and you charmed your way out of half of them?" Gwen asked her eyes wide. The 'who'd you snog' game had been forgotten in favor of listening to Evie's tales of charming the pants off police officers.

"Oh, yeah," Evie said with a careless hand gesture, "See in Cardiff and the surrounding area we're mostly ignored, so I probably would've gotten three or four then. Then I talked two officers out of giving me tickets on the way to Ealing, and three more in the city itself. Then there were the four in the time period I talked into a reduced ticket. Then I got another one driving with Sarah-Jane and her little team of teenagers. Then I got three more at reduced price on the way back to Cardiff. But I actually go stopped seven times. The tearstained cheeks and the 'my-big-brother-just-died' bit got me out of al those."

Gwen and Owen got sent out to search the woods in one direction, while Tosh and Ianto were sent in another, and Jack and Evie were left to 'guard the camp.' That translated as 'snog each other senseless and occasionally have some kind of conversation.'

They didn't have very long, because Gwen and Owen had been gone not even ten minutes before Gwen called in through the comm system (how on earth it was working was not Evie's problem, Tosh had done something strange with the system), that they had found a body.

So they called in Tosh and Ianto and made their way to the scene where Gwen and Owen found the body. They brought along a larger medical bag that Owen had left in the SUV earlier, and Evie brought just about all her equipment (including what looked suspiciously like a DS, but no one was going to call her on it), all she left behind was a long collapsible metal rod, that not ever Tosh knew the purpose of, but no one wanted to ask, because most of the group were afraid to know the answer (Jack just hadn't bothered).

"Well, it's not Ellie Johnson, that's for sure," Owen said as he, Jack, and Tosh examined the corpse. Gwen was busy propping up a tree (aka leaning on it completely casually), and Evie was wandering around the general area using some kind of scanner that she had made in the time since she came back from Ealing. There was something about Mr. Smith mentioned, but the only one with a clue about the alien supercomputer was Jack.

The corpse wasn't very pleasant to look at. It was been stripped of most of the flesh and organs, but the bones were left with just enough to interest maggots, which had taken up residence. It was generally something no one ever really wanted to see. And Ianto was obviously avoiding looking as he put police tape around the area, to warn people off from messing with it (if there were anyone to wander this far out).

"This is a male, late 40s, 50s. Wasn't killed here. No blood spatter or signs of a struggle. Must have been brought here after he died," Owen said squatting next to the body.

"Why do that? It's not like they've tried to bury him here," Gwen asked looking disgusted by the sight of the body; she was avoiding looking at it along with Ianto and Evie.

"Maybe you disturbed them and they ran away," Tosh suggested looking up at the other woman. Evie furrowed her brow. Something wasn't right.

"Maybe it's a warning. Whoever's responsible marking out their territory," Ianto suggested. That didn't seem right to Evie either.

"I don't think any of those are right," Evie said her brow still furrowed and her eyes focusing on the air somewhere above the body. It was almost like she could see something, but she couldn't tell what she was seeing, "The body must have been here at least an hour or two, and whoever put the body here couldn't have been forced to leave quickly and neglected to bury the body, there are no shovels, and no signs that anyone had tried to dig." Evie paused for a long moment and then looked straight at Jack her eyes completely unfocused like she was seeing something completely different. After a moment Evie squinted her eyes like she was looking right at a bright light.

Then she just looked away. She was taking readings like she had never spoken.

"Evie?" Jack asked tentatively.

"Yeah, Jack?" Evie said spinning around grimacing when she caught sight of the body again.

"What was that?" Jack asked her cautiously.

"What was what?" Evie asked glancing down at the device in her hand.

"You squinting and acting strangely," Jack said stepping closer to Evie.

"I've been taking readings this whole time," Evie said with a little half-laugh, "Nothing interesting. Pretty sure we're dealing with something terrestrial though. We should probably call in some of the local police. Make sure we're safe. That body's pretty nasty after all."

The whole team stared from Evie to Jack and back again for a long moment before Jack turned from Evie and kneelt next to the body.

"Cause of death?" Jack asked looking right at Owen as though nothing strange had just happened. Owen looked nervously over at Evie for a moment before answering.

"Impossible to say. The body's been stripped of the flesh and bodily organs. So, all that's left is a carcass," Owen answered another furtive glance at Evie in the middle of his sentence.

Then suddenly there was the sound of an engine revving off a way.

"Shit!" Evie cried before running off through the trees and undergrowth, as though she had been navigating forest terrain her whole life. She didn't stumble even once, and she made the best possible time for the terrain. The rest of the team was a good ways behind her, and when Evie reached the camp it was to see a glimpse of someone or something sitting in the driver's seat of the SUV.

As soon was Evie broke the tree line the SUV's lights went on and the huge black car started to move. It was driven straight into one of the tents, and then it backed out and hit the other before starting to drive off to the road.

While it was making fancy maneuvers Evie managed to get the back door open and clamber into the SUV. The door slammed itself shut behind Evie and the person (for lack of a better description) in the front seat turned about and the SUV in the moment hit the third tent. While the driver was distracted Evie lunged forward across the back seat to try and get a hold of the steering wheel, and possibly get into the front seat.

Evie grappled with the person with a long moment before the driver got a good shot and hit Evie with just the right amount of force to the head.

The last thing Evie saw was a glimpse of Jack through the window trying to chase after the SUV.

And Evie's last thought was "_Maybe he has serious feelings for me after all."_

_**XX**_

When Evie woke her head was splitting and she was laying on the ground in what looked like an old cellar. There were two double doors on one wall, but no windows. The doors were reinforced when Evie took a look, and she was trapped in the room, with just whatever she had on her person.

She was short both her guns, and the knife she had tucked into her boot just for this trip. But her pack was untouched, and she had all her gadgets, including a rather nice one which was the equivalent of a gun for a species from three hundred years in the future from the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy. The species had no fingers, so the device was strapped onto their arm-like appendages, and had a mental interface, so there were no buttons to press or triggers to pull. And the best part was that the gun worked just as well for a human, and it was even easier to put on, because humans have opposable thumbs and fingers.

So Evie immediately strapped the device on her left arm, and grabbed one of her scanning devices and turned it on, holding it in her right hand.

The cellar walls were made of concrete and what looked to be iron rods imbedded in the concrete to add stability. But it was very dark, and the stark contrast between Evie's brightly lit display and dark gloomy cellar that was currently her prison was making it even harder to see into the gloom. So Evie reached into her pack praying to God, and whatever other deity might be able to help her, that her tiny lantern that she and Tosh had reverse engineered from alien technology, and named Portable Day, was in her pack, and Gwen hadn't left it in the SUV when she was looking at it earlier.

Thankfully it was.

So Evie set it on the ground and the room was lit light a bright sunny midday.

Evie didn't bother to explore the cellar. It was obvious now to her that whatever the hell they were fighting it was completely terrestrial, and most likely going to disgust the hell out of her. So she sat in the middle of the room with her little Portable Day cradled in her arms as she thought about the team.

She had been completely worthless today. Her scans had shown nothing of any import, and when she had tried to get the SUV back, she had been captured. She hadn't even managed to get a good look at the person she was fighting with in the SUV. Jack probably didn't even want her back she was so worthless today.

Abruptly Evie realized she was laughing, and crying and she sounded like a madwoman.

It was completely ridiculous. Normally she was calm and collected in horrible situations (well, the thing with the Cyberwoman didn't count), and here she was worrying that her boyfriend didn't care about her! It was completely absurd, and somehow it still cut at Evie's heart and –

Suddenly there was a sound at the door. Evie shut off the Portable Day and lay down in an awkward position, like she had been tossed into the cellar, and hadn't woken yet. The door as flung open, and two figures silhouetted by the light beyond the open door flung two more figures into the cellar before slamming the door shut, and the sound of several bolts being drawn was heard.

Evie waited a moment longer before reactivating the Portable Day and looking to the two figures who had been tossed in so unceremoniously. It was Tosh and Ianto.

Evie rushed over to them and felt their heads for the telltale bumps that come from being knocked out that way. Her own head was sporting an impressive goose egg.

They both had them. Tosh's was much worse, and closer to her neck, Ianto's was very close to the top of his head, and while his knock out would have taken more power, the skull was a little stronger there.

It was close to an hour before Ianto came to. And from that Evie could guess she had been about a little under an hour, and she knew she had been sitting in there cellar alone for close to two hours, so it had been four hours or so since the SUV had been stolen.

"Hey, go slow," Evie said as Ianto rocked forward upon regaining consciousness, "You've got a lovely knot on your head, and it's gonna bloody hurt."

"Evie!" Ianto cried half-lunging half-falling forward towards the blond. Evie caught her and hugged him tight.

"I was a bit worried about you lot," Evie admitted petting Ianto's hair like she would with a small child, "You've never really been on a mission before. Just Myfanwy and the thing with Lisa. And they weren't really missions. And no one else saw it…It's not aliens. It's human, whatever the hell they're doing they're human. Not just humanoid, but human."

"Are you sure?" Ianto asked looked up at her concernedly.

"Absolutely," Evie replied with a sad look, "Look at this place. Not just this cellar but this whole area. The Rift doesn't go out this far. This area has no history of meteorites or strange shooting stars, or anything or the sort. There would be no reason for aliens to move to this remote area and suddenly start a killing spree."

As Ianto sat in silence to assimilate this new information Tosh groaned waking up. Evie shifted Ianto and leaned him against the wall and moved over to Tosh as she started to move, and touched the back of her neck. While Evie was distracted Ianto picked up the closest sharp object (some kind of hook) and set it in his lap.

"You know, I never liked camping," Ianto said as Evie helped Tosh sit up and held lightly onto the smaller woman. Tosh was looking around and spotted Ianto leaning against the wall where Evie left him.

"You feel okay?" Evie asked touching lightly where the people had knocked Tosh out, "That doesn't feel too bad. We'll get Owen to look after it as soon as we get out of here. They'll have taken your guns, but I have a couple of things which will do well enough in a pinch."

Evie then returned to her pack and pulled out two little devices that when pressed created a short-lasting laser, which, while it wouldn't cut all the way through the concrete, would be good enough to cause some serious damage to a human being.

"Charming place they've got," Tosh commented looking around.

"They probably still had this cellar around from before they went on a killing spree," Evie commented handing Tosh and Ianto the two lasers.

"Why do you always have a weapons cache?" Ianto asked looking at the device he had thought was filed in the archives. Then again, he also thought there was only one.

"It'll keep me safer in a pinch," Evie told him, "I've always felt a little unsafe, except when I was with my brother. It's just some mild paranoia. That and I find it amusing to steal things and see how long it takes people to notice they're missing."

"You are a very strange person," Ianto said after a long moment. He tossed away the hook he had found; the laser was a much more capable weapon.

"What are our chances of rescue?" Ianto asked looking at the two women.

"We won't need rescuing," Tosh said as Evie said, "I'm not exactly a damsel in distress." The two women looked at each other and smiled while Tosh went to check the door. She started feeling the hinges and the crack between the two doors. Evie on the other hand went to a little chute thing that she had noticed earlier, and refused to look at, because there was something dark and wet looking coating part of it. The wet looking stuff was mostly dry now, but close up it was obvious it was blood. Evie looked back over at Ianto, catching his eye, before looking at the blood again. Ianto caught it.

"You're used to this, aren't you?" It wasn't very sure whether Ianto was talking to Evie or Tosh, but it didn't really matter, "That facial expression you all share. When things get a bit ... out of control. Like you enjoy it. Like you get a high from the danger."

"How else am I going to have an excuse to make use of my secret weapons caches?" Evie asked with a grin, then her face went serious, "It's not so much the danger, it's the adrenalin, from knowing you could die any moment. You just want to use those last moments cheerfully. And there's this horrible rush of relief and disappointment and happiness when you realized you've safely gotten out of another scrap, that could have killed you."

"You want us to apologize for that?" Tosh asked looking over at Ianto, who was somehow still standing in the middle of the large room.

"Don't you ever wonder how long you can survive before you go mad, or get killed, or lose a loved one?" Ianto asked this completely destroyed expression on his face. He wasn't made for intense missions like this. He was an office kind of guy.

"Every damn moment that I'm out on missions like this," Evie told him seriously, "Just before you and Tosh got tossed in here, I was sure it was the end. I've done nothing worthwhile on this mission except pack a couple hidden weapons in my bag."

"It's worth the risk. To protect people," Tosh added to Evie's comment.

"And who protects us?" Ianto asked angrily spinning to look straight as Tosh.

"We do," Evie said stepping up to Ianto, "We protect each other. I keep you two safe, and in turn you watch my back and keep me safe. That's how it works."

There was a long moment of silence as Evie and Ianto looked right at each other. I twas Tosh who broke the silence.

"God, I'm hungry," Tosh said looking over at her two best friends.

"You should have had that cheeseburger," Ianto said looking over at the Japanese woman.

"Not THAT hungry," Tosh said with a grin.

"In my bag," Evie said gesturing to the bag on the ground, "I've got a couple of granola bars and some trail mix."

"What's that?" Tosh asked a few minutes later in a corner of the room. She had a granola bar in her hand and it was halfway to her mouth when she spoke.

"You've found something?" Ianto asked stepping over to her.

"It's just a shoe," Tosh said calmly before looking back at Ianto with a smile. Then She looked back and the smile faded away, "Wait, there's another. There's dozens of them." Evie stepped over to find that in the half hidden corner she hadn't bothered with before that there was a huge pile of clothes and shoes littering the ground.

"Oh, my God..." Ianto said looking sick.

"How many people have been down here?" Tosh said rhetorically. But Evie's eyes were blazing with a fury that neither of her companions had ever seen before. It was almost like Evie was another person completely.

"Far too many," Evie said angrily before stepping away from the clothes and walking right to the door. She raised her arm and hit the crack between the two doors in some exact spot, before doing it twice more, taking out all three bolts on the door. Ianto and Tosh grabbed up Evie's pack and the Portable Day before following the younger woman out of the cellar and into a wide yard, leading to a house just feet away. Ianto and Tosh were forced to follow as Evie led them right into the house.

It looked like an old house, that hadn't been renovated since the sixties. There was frilly wallpaper everywhere, and all the trim was a quaint white. The front rooms looked slightly unused, but still in good condition. It was when they stepped further into the house that they realized just what these people had been doing. The kitchen was a mess of blood, and entrails. There were two full bodies hanging from the ceiling, and a young man was tied and left behind the counter, on a floor that looked far too unsanitary to even want to put your shoes on, not to mention your face.

"What are you doing?" A woman's voice asked angrily from behind the trio.

"Stopping this," Evie said lifting her left arm. Tosh and Ianto hadn't noticed what had been strapped to Evie's arm, and Ianto moved like to stop Evie when he saw. Tosh stopped _him_ and Evie held the weapon right at the woman's face.

"Why in all of Time would you do this?" Evie asked giving the woman one last chance to redeem herself.

"Because," The woman started like she was about to say something obvious, "We could." There was this sick grin on the woman's face, and before Ianto or Tosh knew what had happened the woman was on the floor, bleeding.

"Untie him," Evie said without even turning to look at the young man tied on the ground, "I'm going hunting."

_**XX**_

Tosh and Ianto had been ordered to stay behind, so Evie was on her own as he trekked through the forest watching the middle distance carefully, seeing something that no one would ever fathom. She shot and killed the people she came across, and sometime around two in the morning she made it back to the house to find Jack, Gwen, and Owen, as well as a number of police were all gathered outside. Ianto and Tosh were sitting on either side of Gwen on a bench, and Jack was talking to the boy who had been tied up in the kitchen.

Evie walked right up to Jack and pulled his head down and kissed him soundly. Then she smiled up at him, before her eyes rolled up and she started to collapse. Jack caught her and that was the last Evie knew.

_**XX**_

When Evie woke she was in her own bed at home, and she wasn't alone. Jack was cuddled next to her, hugging her tightly.

"Good morning," Jack said as Evie looked at him, "You scared us."

"What? How'd I get home?" Evie asked looking right at her lover.

"Well, after you passed out we got you into the SUV, and we drove home. The rest of us had already given out statements to the police," Jack explained calmly.

"But…" Evie said her brow furrowing in confusion, "How did Ianto, Tosh, and I get out of the cellar? The lasers wouldn't have cut through, and my gun was only to be used in an emergency. After all the thing has a limited lifespan once someone fires."

"You shot open the door," Jack said confusion coloring his voice, "Don't you remember? Ianto and Tosh said that you shot open the door, and led them into the house. You killed one of the cannibals and went off. The police called to say they had found twelve bodies in the surrounding area, who all looked to be involved in the mess. We assumed you did it, because the wounds, while looking like bullet holes were cauterized, and perfectly aimed."

"I don't remember anything after seeing the pile of clothes in the cellar. I was so pissed about it…then I woke up here next to you," Evie told him a bit of true fear deep in her eyes.

"I think Owen needs to take a look at you," Jack told her before wrapping her up tighter in his arms, "Go back to sleep. We'll look into things in the morning."

Evie stayed up a good hour longer her mind going over and over what had happened to her. She had lost something like six hours of her life. This wasn't just her memories not matching up with her records. These were six hours which were completely missing from her life.

And she had killed people. Thirteen people. She had killed thirteen human beings. Thirteen.

Needless to say when Evie finally fell asleep, it was to escape her own thoughts.

_**XX**_

_**So…this chapter was actually going to be pretty different originally.**_

_**Originally Evie was going to stay with the group until the split up, and she was going to go with Ianto and Tosh to look for the SUV, and there was going to be a moment where (in my mind) Gwen and Jack were arguing about sending Tosh and Ianto off without either Gwen or Jack, and Jack was going to yell at Gwen that they had Evie and that was better than having either of them…It was going to be in a parallel-ish story that follows **__**Evie**__** through scenes that Evie wasn't there for. I've mostly written two scenes, and there's another one from this chapter that I'll be adding.**_

_**But I'd like to thank BiJane and her fish for keeping me in a good enough mood to get some writing down, and a thank you to everyone else who favorited my story, or added it to their alerts. Also, I try to reply to ever review, but if you've disallowed private messages I can't, but a thank you to them (and also my rare anonymous reviews).**_

_**Every review I get galvanizes me to write, so the more you send me the more likely I am to get the chapter done quickly, just a suggestion…**_


	9. Revelations, Hints, and Romance

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is after Coutrycide, and bridges the time to They Keep Killing Suzie (covering Greeks Bearing Gifts), Doctor Who should be in season 3, and The Sarah Jane adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

The next morning Jack and Evie walked across the city to work. It wasn't a short walk, but it wasn't like they were walking through the countryside and having to deal with tree roots or anything either. The couple made the whole walk holding hands, and Evie's grip got tighter the closer they got to the hub as she came up with new, and more terrifying theories about what in the world could be wrong with her.

But even without the grip Evie had on Jack's hand, he would have been able to figure out she was off kilter about the whole thing. Normally Evie made a great effort in the mornings to come up with a new combination of her outfits, always with some kind of feminine touch. This morning Evie had pulled on a pair of jeans and the first top she saw. She hadn't even bothered with her collection of cute shoes, she just pulled on a pair of slaps and completely forwent her usual morning tea.

When the two arrived at the hub, it took less than a second for Ianto to figure out something must be wrong as he let them through the tourist entrance. He called down on the commlink to the three in the hub as Evie and Jack took the lift down from the tourist office.

There was a plate of pastries on Evie's desk, and a glass of carbonated water (which would keep unlike tea when no one had a clue what time she would be in), but Evie walked right past to Owen's desk and just looked at him with an eyebrow raised for a very long moment.

"What?" Owen finally asked the staring getting to him.

"I need you to do some brain scans," Evie told him her face completely serious, and so was her voice. It was such a morbid contrast from the way she normally started her day. She'd stay in the tourist office talking to Ianto for a few minutes before coming down to the hub full of energy and ready for the day, and she's consume her pastries and hum happily at the taste while insulting Owen and speaking geek with Tosh. She'd have girl talks with Gwen when they weren't fighting, and she'd flirt outrageously with Jack, and just generally be the life of the hub. But today there was none of that, just this solemn shell of who Evie really was.

"Why?"

"I lost everything from the cellar onwards yesterday," Evie told him, "I killed thirteen dam people and I don't even have a damn clue! We must have missed something, because I'm forgetting things and I need to remember them."

"Yeah," Owen said shakily as he got out of his chair, "Let's do some scans."

Evie lead the way down to the autopsy bay and lay down obediently on the table. Owen collected some equipment from a cabinet under the stairs down to the autopsy bay. Particularly a scanner Tosh and Suzie had created in the years before Evie joined Torchwood using a number of different types of alien technology. It was more exact than anything anywhere else on earth (at least as far as Torchwood was aware, and Torchwood was aware of a lot of things).

Owen made several passes over Evie's head, including the sides in order to get as accurate a view of her brain as possible. Owen even slipped the scanner under the medical table to get a view at the back of her head. Then he made Evie sit up and took scans all around her head again, including a scan under her chin. Finally he shut off the scanner and pulled out a needle to do blood tests.

Evie was about to protest blood tests when she paused, and let Owen prep her arm. If a blood test would tell them what was wrong with her, Evie was going to let Owen do a blood test, without complaint.

Blood taken Owen did the routine bits, like checking Evie's reflexes and her eye dilation and any issues with her ears. Then they were left in the bay just looking at each other for a long moment.

"Do…do you think you'll figure it out?" Evie asked sounding truly vulnerable for the first time Owen had seen since the break down after the blowfish incident.

"You should know," Owen started making his voice as cocky as possible, "My little bay down here doesn't look like much, but I have the very best equipment on the planet. Shoot, I have two of the best techs on earth making brand new amazing equipment. If anything is findable, I'll find it. I promise you won't be like Katie. Now go upstairs and do something geeky far above my abilities."

Evie was being shooed out of Owen's realm before she could ask about who Katie was. She had most likely worked for Torchwood before even Suzie. But if that was true…that meant she met a terrible death via Torchwood, probably something alien. That didn't help Evie at all.

_**XX**_

"So, I did find something strange in the blood work," Owen admitted several hours later to Evie and Jack, "There's some sort of element in her blood stream, that was dying even as I tried to examine it. I got a couple of scans of it but…Well, it doesn't exist according to any of the alien databases I've been able to look at, and it's certainly never been seen by humans before."

"Does it look to be harmful?" Jack asked looking over at Evie who was staring at the scan that Owen had placed on the table in horror. That thing was in her blood? What the hell could it be?

"Not that I could see," Owen admitted, "They just seemed to die, like they could only live for a certain amount of time. I don't think they're replicating. It almost looks like radiation. But there seems to be no harmful effects on the rest of the blood, so even if it is radiation, it's very minor, and harmless."

"Anything else?" Jack asked calmly.

"I haven't finished with the brain scans, but there's seems to be something odd. But I don't think it's the memory centers. I'm not sure, but I'm going to examine it," Owen explained, "I just wanted to show you the results of the blood work. I'm going to go through the blood again sometime tomorrow to see if there's any change."

"Okay, get to work then," Jack said with a nod of his head looking over to the remarkably subdued woman next to him. Evie didn't even bother to look at Jack, even though she could feel his eyes on her.

She had killed thirteen people.

It was odd. Evie had never thought about death before this. It was all life, and love, and confusion, and fighting, and all kinds of random shit. But now, death was something concrete. It was sitting in the front of her mind, keeping her up at night, making her think.

It was different.

Even though Evie couldn't remember killing those people.

Even though they had almost certainly deserved what they had gotten.

Even though Evie had been forced to kill aliens, and on the rare occasion she had to see dead bodies, she had even helped with the autopsy of one or two.

This was different.

Evie, _Evie_ had taken the lives of thirteen human beings. _She_ had been the one to take away their futures. Sure, because they would have been locked up, they wouldn't have had much of lives for what was left for them. But it was _life_.

There was nothing Evie loves so much as life. It was one of those intangible, completely graspable, beautiful, painful, complicated, simple things that it is such a contradiction that no one even noticed it anymore. But if was so beautiful and breakable that Evie had always had this great desire to protect it. Make it keep going. Save a suicidal person. Give someone CPR.

Evie had considered being a doctor, before she realized her big brother would be a much better one. She then thought she'd be a police officer, but then she found the mystery of time and the physics and contradictions, and all the complicated bits were almost as beautiful as life itself, and she'd become a physicist.

But now, Evie had killed people. Destroyed life.

In that moment sitting next to Jack in the conference room as Owen got up and left to finish his analysis Evie vowed to never again kill anyone.

She wouldn't even shoot an alien.

She wouldn't even carry lethal weapons anymore.

She would be a living shield for anyone who needed one, but she would never shoot. Not even to preserve life.

She had taken too many lives, and there were too many people who would so willingly kill people, that they didn't need her jumping in guns blazing.

No, Evie wouldn't become a pacifist, but she'd never kill another living thing.

_**XX**_

Owen didn't have any results that day. He said something seemed off, but everything was actually functioning just right.

The next day Owen said that he couldn't find anything wrong. Her brain was functioning perfectly normally; there were no tumors, no buildup of gunk, and no alien parasites or infections. Owen actually said that Evie had one of the healthiest brains he had ever looked at.

So within a week of the incident with the cannibals Evie was mostly back to normal. She was greeting everyone and insulting Owen. She got into a fight with Gwen about whether or not it was ethical to date while working for Torchwood, and the benefits of dating someone in Torchwood, versus dating someone outside of Torchwood. Evie had a very long conversation about whether or not it was possible to create a safe situation in which to test the Rift Manipulator, and they (apparently) came to the conclusion that there wasn't one.

Evie went out to lunch with Ianto and the two came back laughing about some strange encounter with a man about their age who they had run into when looking into a crime scene several days before the incident at the Brecon Beacons. He had been trying to show Gwen something, but he apparently remembered Evie being there.

So (as the two youngest Torchwood members explained) the young man, Eugene, had asked if they would look at what he had. So while Ianto and Evie were about to leave to get back to work, Evie offered to have lunch with him the next day to take a look.

In other words, everyone was back to normal. Owen was still pouring over everything they had on Evie, but everything said she was your average twenty-six-year-old woman who had a slightly dangerous life, save the traces of dying radiation.

_**XX**_

The Friday after Evie's lunch with Eugene Jones, Jack took Evie out to dinner. It was in a fancy restaurant in the nicest area of Cardiff, and Jack went and picked her up at her apartment, and did the whole date thing. He rang the doorbell, just a minute after eight, and brought a large bouquet of an arrangement of lilies, and a little present, that when Evie opened it contained a pair of earrings that Jack must have had custom made, because they matched her favorite necklace, the one Eddie gave her.

"Jack, these are beautiful," Evie said as she opened the box. She had already placed the lilies in a large ceramic vase, that was glazed a lovely pale blue and white, and edged with a silver gilt. It was one of the pieces that Evie had picked up in a second-hand shop.

"I got them made by a craftsman," Jack admitted his hands buried in the pockets of her greatcoat, "I took them a picture of you wearing your locket, and they enlarged the design on it, and copied it onto sterling silver to make the earrings."

"They're perfect," Evie said stepping forward to kiss Jack. Stepping away from him she put the earrings on and gathered up her purse, "Let's go."

Jack walked her out to the SUV and held the door for her while she got in, before walking around to the driver's seat and getting in.

Dinner was brilliant and Jack and Evie managed to master small talk, that mentioned nothing of Torchwood (which was rather difficult seeing as both nearly lived at work), or aliens. There was a lot of talking about family. Jack talked a lot about Alice and Steven (who had apparently been asking about Evie), and Evie made a lot of talk about Sarah-Jane and her gang, and the little moments of being around them, that had nothing to do with chasing down alien threats, or using sentient alien supercomputers.

The dinner ended with Evie and Jack at Evie's apartment, and somehow it surprised neither that Jack stayed the night.

_**XX**_

"So, Eugene," Evie said a few days later having lunch with the 28-year-old again, 'What have you got for me today?"

"I brought the eye to show you," He admitted pulling it in a bag from his pocket and passing it over to Evie, the added as an afterthought, "And I've brought all my calculations."

Evie took the bag from Eugene and studied the eye carefully. It was definitely not glass or plastic, but a someone without experience with alien things would most likely assume so. The center of the eye, where the 'pupil' was, was tinted a pale blue, and seemed to spin if you looked at it long enough, and while Evie held it she thought for just half a second to see something.

"_Come on Aunt!" A girl's voice called. Evie saw her vision turning and for just a moment she could see the girl's face. She had short dark hair and a face that looked accustomed to a worried expression, but in that moment she was smiling brilliantly, and there was a man behind her and he was sooo familiar – _

And it was gone. All that was left was the laughing girl's smile.

"It's a Dogon Sixth eye," Evie said passing the bag back to Eugene.

"What's that?" Eugene asked eagerly.

"It lets you look back at your life, see where you've been, look at where you're going. That sort of stuff," Evie told him before continuing, "If you want to know more you'd have to show it to Jack. It's not my area of expertise. Those calculations however…"

Eugene eagerly handed the file of papers over cradling the bag in his hands, as though the eye would break at any moment.

So Evie read through the calculations making little notes in her notebook of the spatial parameters of origin. Every bit of math was perfect. Not a single number, letter, Greek symbol, or letter out of place. It was amazing considering the fact that Eugene said he had started the calculations when he was still in primary school.

"This is horribly impressive," Evie said finally looking up at Eugene who had ordered another plate of chips while Evie was distracted with the pages of numbers, "I can't find even one flaw in your calculations. You could easily go into physics or mathematics. Become one of the great thinkers of our time." At Eugene's shocked expression Evie shrugged and put the papers away, "Think about it. You could really go somewhere. Maybe even join Torchwood someday. Or UNIT, they're not as cool, but they're a bit more respectable. Which is insane because Torchwood's been around longer."

"I…I'll think about it," Eugene said taking the papers from Evie's outstretched hand.

"But remember, if you don't move on with your life, you'll never have a place with Torchwood." Evie told him before grabbing her purse and her rain jacket, "Let's have lunch again next week, bring another piece from your collection."

Thus the lunches with Eugene became weekly. Eugene slowly went through his entire collection of alien artifacts, and after that Evie and Eugene used each other as sounding boards for their latest equations. It was unusual to find someone at your own level your own age, and the two took advantage of the fact.

Eugene started at the local college and started studying mathematics, and Evie encouraged him at every step.

Evie never admitted that she had left her own studies half finished.

_**XX**_

One day, about a week after Evie saw the eye, and the strange vision, Torchwood was called in to take a look at an old body they found out in a dig. Owen's original theories said that it was a woman, and she had been shot.

His theories were later shot down, but not before all manner of other shit broke out.

Owen and Gwen had recently become very chummy, and they were driving everyone nuts, but it really hurt Tosh, because she was half in love with Owen. So, according to Tosh, she went to the pub one night and met a strange woman who seemed to know all sorts of things about her. The woman was named Mary, and somehow Tosh ended up sleeping with her, and was given a telepathic pendant.

The next day Tosh brought the pendant in and showed it to Evie.

"I think I might be a safe way to take a look into your mind. Maybe see if we can find something about the missing blocks of time," Tosh told her eagerly.

"We can try, but didn't you say that it picks up surface thoughts?" At Tosh's nod Evie continued, "If that's true you're more likely to catch what I think of Jack in bed, than find out what's wrong with me. But either way we should get down into the deep archives so you won't be trying to pick up too many people's thoughts."

So the two women told Jack about their experiment and travelled down into depths of the hub that neither had ever bothered to travel before.

Tosh put the pendant on and froze. It was then that Evie felt something very odd. There was a tickling in the back of Evie's mind, like someone accidently brushing against your arm ever so lightly, and it was obviously an accidently. But then it was stronger, like someone carefully brushing through your hair. It was light, but strong enough to pull the tangles out, and that's what it felt like Tosh was doing, pulling tangles out of her mind. Everything felt calmer, and she could think clearly again.

Tosh said she didn't find anything really, but she did see the vision, and a couple of Evie's stranger dreams, which she said seemed to be connected. So Evie started a dream diary to try and recall everything, and possibly piece things together.

In the end it turned out that the woman Tosh met was an alien, and she had been a fugitive of her planet, and had possessed a woman named Mary, way back in the 1700s. The body had been a small man's, and the wound had been caused by Mary.

Mary was sent back to her planet, where she would probably be arrested, but if not, she would at least not be on earth anymore.

_**XX**_

"Hey Jack?" Evie suddenly asked late one night almost two weeks after the incident with Mary.

"Yes?" He asked sleepily as her curled up against Evie's side.

"Did you move in without me noticing?" Evie asked looking around the room, particularly the open closet where no less than ten of Jack's shirts were hanging alongside her dresses, blouses, skirts, and nice slacks.

"I think I might have," Jack admitted sleepily, "Why?"

"Just making sure," Evie told him cuddling up to him and closing her eyes. Maybe their relationship was really going somewhere now. It certainly seemed so.

_**XX**_

The next slow day Jack and Evie formally moved Jack out of his little hideout under his office, and into Evie's apartment. All that was left in the little room, were two changes of clothes and one of Jack's extra greatcoats (Jack owned five greatcoats, and three of them were moved into Evie's apartment, while one resided in the wardrobe under Jack's office, and the fifth was the one he wore on any given day).

It took Evie two full weeks to get used to there being an extra toothbrush, and Jack's razor sitting next to the sink. But she was quickly used to being driven home in the SUV every night (that they weren't forced to work), and Evie admitted only to herself, that she much preferred waking up to find Jack in the bed next to her, that an empty space.

The problem was that Evie had finally admitted to herself that she had actually fallen in love with Jack. But Jack hadn't indicated his feelings were that deep. Jack obviously felt a lot for Evie, but she wasn't sure if he felt _that_ much.

So Evie had several times found herself awake thinking long after Jack's breath had evened out, and she simply wasn't sure what to do. It was a problem for another time though.

It was always a problem for another time.

If it wasn't a weevil, it was complicated pieces of potentially dangerous alien tech, or it might just be Tosh and her jealousy of Gwen. Evie had even suspected for a day or two that Gwen and Owen were sleeping together, but it didn't seem to be true. At the moment it just looked like they were good friends with occasional sexual tension. Like Ianto and Jack.

Evie didn't think either man had noticed, but they were always making comments or acting in ways that made Evie think they were rather ready to jump each other's bones. It was rather uncomfortable sometimes, because Evie was standing in the middle of her boyfriend and best friend and watching them exchange heated glances.

Once or twice Evie worried about Jack potentially cheating on her. But she always knew where he was, not because she was watching him, but because he was staying close to her.

One slow Friday Gwen, Rhys, Jack, and Evie went out together to a local pub for a double date of sorts.

"So, Rhys," Evie said when Gwen and Jack went off to play a game of darts, "I don't think we're ever properly met before this."

"No, I don't think we have," Rhys admitted.

"Gwen's great. I mean we have our fights, and they're fights to remember, but we're always capable of working together the next day," Evie told him a few minutes later, trying to break the ice somehow.

"Just what do you do anyway?" Rhys asked, "I know it's all classified and all that, but can't you tell me something?"

"Actually, you've asked just the right person," Evie told him with a grin, "I'm second-in-command, so I can tell you a few things that Gwen isn't allowed. But you'll have to ask the questions and I'll answer as I can."

"So, how dangerous is this job?" Rhys asked going for the ones most important to him first.

"Depends on the day actually," Evie told him, "The last month and a half or so has been really slow. A couple situations that might end in a few scratches or bruises, maybe one that end in a broken arm. But mostly slow. Sometimes it's really bad though. I've been trying to convince Jack to recruit more people, because the more people, the safer it is for all of us."

"What kind of people?" Rhys asked following the thread.

"Some police officers like Gwen might be useful. I recently met a really talented man, who just needs to finish his schooling. He'll probably have a place with us when he finishes his degree."

"What about me?"

"What about you?" Evie asked raising an eyebrow. She knew what he was asking, but she needed him to clarify.

"Would I be helpful? I don't like Gwen getting' into dangerous things without me," That made Evie smile at his dedication.

"I don't know yet," Evie admitted, "But I know that if Gwen could talk about some of this stuff she'd be better off. She's been a bit tense lately."

"Yeah, Gwen and I have been fighting," Rhys admitted.

"I'll see what I can do," Evie told him as Gwen and Jack returned laughing from their game. Jack promptly kissed Evie on the lips and she knew he had been drinking while he was gone, "So, Jack. I guess I'm driving home?"

"Sure, sure," Jack said leaning his head on her shoulder. He must have had at least ten shots of something strong while he was gone. Jack was not a lightweight and he'd never get to this point just drinking beer.

Jack wasn't quite so happy when he found a rather expensive ticket on the counter the next morning.

_**XX**_

_**So, this chapter is both shorter and longer than originally intended.**_

_**It was supposed to be longer word wise, but shorter event and actual time wise. For those who didn't catch it this chapter actually spans about two and a half months, and it covered Greeks Bearing Gifts, which was never going to get more than a mention. **_

_**Also, Owen and Gwen are NOT having an affair in this story. They're just buddy-buddy and it's driving poor Tosh mad, while making everyone one else uneasy and Rhys nervous. Ianto and Jack will never get together, but I promised some time ago (to the lovely BiJane) that there would be at least a bit of sexual tension between the two.**_

_**Twicloiser89: **_Thank you for your great reviews. You came very close to the answer about who Evie is in one of your reviews, and I was going to send you a review reply to tell you so, but it tells me that you've had your private messaging turned off.

_**Please everyone tell me what you think. This is a very romance filled chapter, because I had a request to see a little more romance in the story. So that's what I did!**_


	10. Former Colleague's Plots

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during They Keep Killing Suzie, Doctor Who should be right before the Lazarus Experiment (taking some liberties with timelines here), and The Sarah Jane adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

"Evie," Jack said coming into work the next day with a thunderous look.

"Yes, dear?" Evie said spinning her chair with a grin.

"What is this?" He said brandishing the ticket as the rest of the team scattered to find somewhere else to be.

"That would be the ticket I got last night when I drove you home from the pub completely trashed," Evie replied raising an eyebrow.

"I was not trashed," Jack argued.

"You were," Evie told him folding her arms over her chest, "When I asked you whether I should drive you said 'sure, sure' as though it didn't matter at all."

"I did not," Jack said drawing himself up indignantly.

"Yes, you did," Evie told him with a glare, "And if you can't recall it now, that's your own damn fault for getting drunk. You were enjoying the ride, and the police officer who stopped us took close to a hundred pounds off the ticket when he saw I was driving you home."

"How do you do that?" Jack asked deflating.

"Do what?" Evie asked truly curious.

"Make me feel like an idiot for even bringing the ticket up," Jack replied drawing Evie up from her seat, "I didn't get a good morning kiss today."

Evie leaned up and Jack leaned down and they met in the middle for a snog.

_**XX**_

It was later that day that they got a call from the Cardiff police. It was odd mostly because they usually didn't like Torchwood. Lots of complaints about them getting in the way of investigations, and taking them over completely. But seemed for this case they wanted them to take a look.

So it was that Jack, Evie, Owen, and Gwen piled into the SUV to go to the crime scene specified. It was a peaceful looking residential street. The kind where you expected a couple with two kids and a dog to live on. White picket fence sort of stuff.

Out in front of one building though, were several police cars, an ambulance, and a number of policemen and women. The area all around the house was taped off with the bright yellow police tape. Just before they got out of the SUV Jack insisted on putting on a pair of dark sunglasses (dark enough you couldn't see his eyes behind them), no doubt to bother the police. Evie gave him a warning glance, and she ended up being the first to leave the SUV, and consequently the first to speaking with Detective Cathy Swanson.

"At last. You must be Torchwood? My team bitch about you all the time," She said looking straight at Evie.

"Evie Smith," Evie said offering her hand. Detective Swanson ignored it, "You?"

"Detective Swanson," The woman replied sourly as Jack walked up and set his hand on Evie's shoulder affectionately. Evie saw the way the detective looked at his hand, like she thought neither of the Torchwood operatives would notice.

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness," Jack introduced himself, offering his own hand to shake. The detective seemed highly reluctant, but in the end she took his hand.

"So I've heard. Are you always this dressy for a murder investigation?" The detective was looking not only at Jack's dress shoes and greatcoat, but also at Evie's blouse, pencil skirt, and heels.

Jack whipped off his sunglasses and gave the woman one of his cheeky 'you-know-you-love-me-even-though-you-hate-me' grins. Evie rolled her eyes having a feeling that she knew where this was going.

"What, you'd rather me naked?" Jack asked the grin in place. Yep, that was exactly what Evie expected. Didn't make it any more comfortable for Evie to be standing there while her boyfriend was flirting. Again.

"God help me, the stories are true," Detective Swanson said clutching her face with her hand.

"Jack?" Evie said turning to the man with that sweet tone of voice that said 'goddamnit you idiot, I'm going to kill you.'

"Yes, Evie?" There was a faint hesitation before Jack replied looking down at Evie with a wary expression.

"Where do you live?" Evie asked her voice on the same fake-sweet.

"In your apartment?" Jack replied warily making the statement a question.

"Yes, and what are you doing right now?" Evie asked her voice suddenly menacing.

"Murder investigation?"

"No, you are flirting," Evie replied flatly, "Put your sunglasses back on and move your butt."

Jack did as he was told in a way that seemed rather meek to everyone watching. Evie then turned to look at the detective Jack looking thoroughly cowed for what might just be the first time in his life.

"What's the deal with the dead person?" Evie asked still obviously annoyed.

"Dead _people_, plural. Yesterday, a man was murdered at 96 Oakham Street, Alex Arwyn - 28, single, estate agent. Here we go, that's from the scene of crime," The detective looked between the two leaders of Torchwood, and it was Evie who received the folder. Evie looked through the folder (Jack looking over her shoulder) as the detective continued, "Today, in here, we get two more, Mark and Sara Briscoe, both 33, married, he's a surveyor, she works in education."

"What about the smears of blood? Is that writing?" Jack asked looking worriedly.

"Work in progress. Come inside and see the finished thing," The detective told them, and Evie, Jack, Gwen, and Owen followed her into the house. It was a nice house, and the décor was fairly calm and comfortable. It was a bit like a TV perfect family kind of thing. Cushy couches, and butter yellow walls.

The bedroom was upstairs, and the hallway was mildly crowded with police, detectives, and medics dealing with the dead bodies. The bedroom itself was a different story.

It had probably been like the rest of the house and tastefully decorated before. But now it just seemed gory. The bodies of the couple were still in the queen-sized bed, their throats slit and blood soaking the sheets around them. There was someone taking photos before anything was moved.

But none of that was what caught any of their eyes.

No, the eye-catching bit was what was written in blood on the wall.

It said: TORCHWOOD.

"Looks like somebody wants your attention," The detective said sounding almost smug.

"They damn well got it," Evie growled staring at the word. For one insane moment Evie wanted a gun in her hand again to shoot whoever the hell it was that had murdered three people to get their attention. But then her senses kicked back in and Evie realized that in the last two and a half months she not only hadn't had a need for a gun, she hadn't told anyone that she was no longer going to carry one. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to, but in a situation like this it looked like she'd have to tell them. Or Jack at least.

But now wasn't the moment.

The whole of the Torchwood team were pulling out kits and putting on gloves as Jack and the detective talked, and Evie worked close by. Of course it was just a convenient spot. She wasn't listening to Jack's conversation to curb the flirting. Not at all…Yeah, that's completely bullshit.

"We found a few of the killer's hairs from the first murder. Lab results should be in soon," Detective Swanson was saying to Jack.

"Good, we'll need that. Now, if you could just clear the room? Some of this equipment is strictly need to know," Jack told her. He looked serious, but it was obvious that the grin was just seconds away. Detective Swanson sighed before turning to the door.

"It was only a matter of time," She muttered loudly enough that Jack and Evie both heard exactly what she said, and the tone of voice she used.

"What was?" Jack asked completely serious now. There was no confident smile hiding behind the serious expression, and there was no flirty glance, or apologetic look. No, this was complete seriousness that few had ever seen from Jack.

The detective stopped in her tracks and paused for a long moment. Then she turned to look straight at Jack, "Torchwood walks all over this city, like you own it. Now these people are paying the price - ordinary people, ripped apart, with your name written in their own blood. From where I'm standing, you did this, Captain Jack Harkness. You did it."

"That's bullshit," Evie said angrily straightening from where she was kneeling.

"What?" The detective seemed truthfully confused by Evie's reaction.

"We walk the city like we own it?" Evie said scoffing, "Do you have any clue where literally half the Torchwood team lives? The poorest section of the city. You know how many people in Torchwood have died in quiet little Cardiff in the last ten years? Five. Five out of eleven people to be stationed at Torchwood Three. That's just under a fifty percent chance of dying. The oldest anyone has lived working for Torchwood? 52. Don't give me this bullshit that it's our fault. We're here to protect people from the insane dangers that exist in Cardiff. You should know by now, there's weird shit in this city, and we're the ones who have to clean it up. So shut up, and go do your half of this job. We'll deal with the dangerous bits while you lot sit behind desks."

Evie and Detective Swanson stood a long moment staring at each other before Evie ripped the gloves off her hands and tossed them to Jack, "I'm going out to the SUV, see if I can't get some matches on connections between the three victims."

Evie stormed from the room brushing the detective as she passed.

The last thing Evie heard before the door shut behind her was Owen's voice, "Still, at least we've got a head start. If it's someone we've pissed off, that narrows it down to ... ooh, four or five million."

Evie went down to the SUV and immediately started running the victims' names through the system. She ended up running them through the system twelve times trying slightly different spellings in case someone had typed something in wrong. But they didn't exist. The three victims weren't in the Torchwood database and Torchwood had everyone in Cardiff in that database.

"Jack?" Evie called through the comms.

"Yes, Evie?" Jack asked after a second's pause, "Find something?"

"That's the problem," Evie said and she could just see Jack looking confused, "They're not in the database. No Mr. and Mrs. Briscoe, and the young guy from the other day? He's missing too. Good news is that the results seem to have come in."

"How do you know that?" Owen asked breaking into the commline.

"Some officer just gave the detective a folder. I'm going to hack in and take a look myself," Evie reported before doing exactly what she said she would.

Her findings did not comfort her.

"Meet me at the front door," Evie said closing the laptop that was sitting in front of her, the added sternly, "five minutes ago."

Jack, Owen, and Gwen came down and out of the building quickly, they had obviously paused only long enough to pack everything up. But because of the time it took Evie to hack into the system to begin with it ended up taking about a normal amount of time.

Evie stepped out of the SUV and made her way across the street and caught up with the team just as they reached where the detective was standing.

"Initial findings say, Caucasian male, early 40s, smoker, drinks tequila. Doesn't match any DNA profiles. Only thing of interest is a compound we've never seen before. Recognize it?" The detective asked holding the folder out. Jack looked over at Evie as Owen took the folder from the detective. Evie had obviously recognized whatever it was to make them come out so quickly. That meant it was almost positively alien.

"Oh, we're in trouble," Owen groaned looking at the list. He looked up at the group around him.

"What is it?" Gwen asked completely out of the loop.

"Compound B67," Owen said and Jack's face became a mask of surprise.

"You're kidding?" Jack gasped out as Evie responded to Gwen's question, surprising Owen, who had expected to explain it himself.

"It's retcon Gwen," Evie told her, "That's why I was so urgent. We introduced retcon into this time place and time period, so we actually are responsible for whatever happens next."

_**XX**_

When they all got back to the hub the real conversation began. Everyone had been so awkward over Evie's words earlier that no one wanted to say the first word, in fear that they might say something that damned their soul…If any of them still believed in religion…which unfortunately none of them did. They did all have consciences, although Gwen's was rather remarkably larger than the others…

No one wanted to talk because it was awkward, alright?

"B67, aka Retcon, aka the magic ingredient of the amnesia pill," Owen said in the conference room as everyone gathered around.

"And this belongs to us? This killer is somebody we gave the amnesia pill to?" Gwen asked incredulously as Ianto walked into the room. Evie turned to look at him with a strange look in her eye before turning back to the group at hand.

"Is he remembering that he's a serial killer? Or is he becoming a serial killer because of the Retcon?" Owen asked looking around at the group. He was mostly focusing on Jack (who had created retcon), and Evie (who was fully in charge of the distribution of the little mind-altering pills).

"Wait a minute. I've taken Retcon," Gwen said in a voice that was half worried, and half panicked.

"Then better stay away from sharp objects. Ianto, how many people have we given amnesia pills to?" Jack said looking over to Ianto. Ianto replied promptly.

"2,008," Was the answer. But Evie knew something else.

"More," Evie said quietly.

"What? Why more?" Jack asked looking to his second-in-command.

"I monitor the retcon, and 2,008 doses have been properly logged and approved. There were some several others that were not logged, and it was presumed that I over looked them. Almost all of them were from before Gwen's time, so we can count her out. I wouldn't exactly be announcing this if it were me, so it's one of you four, or it was Suzie."

"Suzie?" Owen asked looking over at Evie nervously for some reason.

"Well, almost all the stolen retcon was in the year before Gwen joined. Suzie was on the team then. It's logical that she might have abused that too. Unless one of you wants to confess?" Evie asked looking around at the four.

"I've logged all the retcon I use properly," Jack said shaking his head.

"I've never been taught to use retcon. I leave to you all," Tosh admitted.

"Nope, if I need the stuff, I tell you because you have that pretty jar on your desk that you put an alien force-field around," Owen said grumbling a bit. It was obvious he had tried to steal some once, and gotten caught on the field and never tried again.

"No," was all Ianto said. So it hadn't been any of them. That logically left it to be Suzie.

"Well ,Tosh, narrow the list down to fit Swanson's profile, start checking them out as fast as you can. Just to be sure it isn't something Suzie did." Jack ordered before turning to Gwen and Evie, " You two, there's got to be a link between the victims, find the link, find the killer. Get to it!"

Everybody left quickly except Gwen and Evie. Gwen made as though she was going to ask Jack something, but Evie gave her and look, and Gwen scarpered off with a glare of her own for Evie. If that wasn't jealousy Evie didn't know what was.

"Jack, we need to have a serious discussion," Evie said shutting the doors into the conference

"If this is about the flirting you did say…" Jack started and noticed the look on Evie's face. This was more serious than the flirting earlier.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't used a gun in the last two and a half months," Evie started. By the reflective look on Jack's face he was trying to remember when was the last time he had seen Evie with a gun in her hand, "It's because I made a vow to myself."

"Why?" Jack asked seemingly content with his memories of the last time he saw Evie with a gun.

"Because, in the Brecon Beacons I killed thirteen people in six hours. I don't need to go rushing about with a gun killing more people. There are enough criminals and maniacs to do that as it is," Evie told him with a sad look on her face.

"Then you'll need a desk job," Jack stated, it certainly wasn't a question, "I don't want you to get hurt because you won't defend yourself."

"I'll defend myself, but not with lethal force. Certainly not against anything sentient," Evie told him sitting down in the chair next to Jack's. Jack sat and looked at her for a long moment.

"Can you promise me you'll keep yourself safe?" Jack asked looking truly vulnerable for a moment. Vulnerable in a way that let Evie know that her reply could cut his heart out if it wasn't the right one.

"I can't," Evie said and Jack's face crumpled, "Look at our jobs. You've jumped in front of enough bullets, and taken enough beatings…You already know. Because, you'll die and pop right back after a little bit, but the rest of us don't. We've all gotten hurt. We all _will_ get hurt in the future. I can't promise I'll be safe."

"I'll get you a different job," Jack said looking determined.

"No, Jack," Evie said shaking her head with a sad smile, "I _need_ to be here. Life is so beautiful, and now that I have a chance to protect it, I'm going to. I don't want you to stop me. I know you won't retcon me, because if you did I'd forget you, and I can't leave this job _knowing_ what's out there, and not being able to do anything."

"Please," Jack whispered sounding heartbroken. That one word could be interpreted so many different ways, but Evie knew what he meant. He meant a number of things. He meant 'please stay with me.' He meant 'please reconsider a desk job.' He meant 'please give me a hug.'

Evie stood back up, took the two steps over to Jack, and sat down in his lap. Evie leaned against him, and Jack folded his arms around her middle. Jack's head came forward and rested on the back of Evie's head, and Evie's arms came up to hold onto Jack's forearms.

They stayed that way for a long while.

_**XX**_

Evie eventually went down to try to track down some connections, and Gwen managed to track down Jack, and consequently they got into a shouting match that Evie had to go break up. The end result was: they were going to try to Resurrection Gauntlet on the victims, then if there were no firm results they would try Suzie, because it was starting to look like whatever was going on was Suzie's fault.

Of course, no one could actually use the Resurrection Gauntlet. Jack, Owen, Tosh, and Ianto hadn't been able to make it work, and Evie had straight out refused to try because the thing made her skin crawl. Of course Gwen had never tried to use it, but at the same time that was because they locked the thing up several days before Gwen officially started work for Torchwood. So it was possible it would work for Gwen, but Evie wasn't going to suggest it because she was firmly of the belief that it should stay locked up, and no one should mess with it.

So it was that Evie put headphones in and completely ignored the proceedings as the rest of the team used the glove on the two male victims, before deciding that they should try Suzie. At this point Evie took up a perch on the railing looking over the autopsy bay, and she watched as Gwen used the glove on Suzie.

No matter how much Evie had disliked and distrusted the woman, she was still going to be there, because she had a strange need to be childish and say 'Nah nah nah I told you so!' But then again, so probably wouldn't. Maybe.

It was sort of sad to look at her body like this. Tosh was standing on the bottom stairs to record the whole session while Owen is checking his monitors, Ianto is standing in the corner with his stopwatch, and Jack and Gwen stand on either side of Suzie's head.

"Do we all get frozen? Torchwood staff, when we die, do we all get kept?" Gwen asked looking disconcerted by the idea that Suzie had been in the basement the whole time; frozen.

"Rules and regulations," Jack replied looking down at his former employee. Evie could catch a bit of wistful sadness, as though Jack didn't know quite what he was feeling himself.

"How long for?" Gwen asked not realizing that it wasn't a subject that Jack was particularly comfortable. Evie could understand why though. For all intents and purposes Jack was immortal. Everyone in this hub would die, and Jack would freeze their bodies while they were replaced as professionals by new people who he would also have to watch die, and in turn freeze their bodies. It was not a comforting prospect.

"Forever," Jack said looking right at Gwen. The angle was wrong for Evie to see his expression, but there was a surge of jealousy that Evie had to shove down. Gwen was giving Jack an intense look that seemed to be trying to convey a message, but Evie didn't watch Gwen's expressions often enough to know what her expression meant.

"Recording," Tosh announced from her corner spot. Evie looked over at her noting her expression of mild disgust. Tosh wasn't any fonder of this than Evie herself.

"Have you got your stopwatch?" Owen asked looking at Ianto, and Evie had the feeling she had missed an inside joke earlier when she had her headphones on.

"Always," Ianto replied with a smirk that made Evie highly uncomfortable. She had never seen Ianto looking so downright sneaky. It was odd that it fit his face, that Evie had always thought of as being open and honest.

"I'll record from my station. I'm sorry, but I don't want to look her in the eye. Sorry," Tosh said and flew up the stairs past Evie. She was obviously avoiding looking at Evie, and the blond was fairly sure she knew why. Evie had never liked Suzie, had frequently gone out of her way to not deal with Suzie, but she was the one watching as they used a device that Evie thought should have stayed buried forever because it was a former colleague. But Tosh, who had actually gotten along with Suzie sporadically; left.

There was a long moment of silence before Jack looked around at the other four members of his team and asked, "Anyone else?"

No one said anything so Jack looked over at Owen, who barely turned to respond to his glance.

"Any advice? Yeah, I know. Empathy. Even though she did try to kill me," Gwen asked putting the glove on her hand. Evie found herself scowling at the reminder. They should have left the glove buried; found another way of dealing with this. Resurrecting her wasn't the answer.

"You and me both," Jack said and with one last look at Jack, Gwen put her hand on Suzie's head, and gasped as some sort of connection was formed. A long tense moment longer as everyone stared at Gwen (save Owen who was concentrating on the readouts in front of him), and she gasped again, like someone who had forgotten they were holding their breath.

"I'm getting a reading," Owen said calmly, and quietly. The room was mostly still. Jack, Ianto, and Evie were barely breathing as they watched, and Owen wasn't moving from his position. Gwen wasn't making a sound, but her brow was furrowing and Evie could just see the strain on her face from the angle she was sitting at.

"Uh, no! It's gone..." Owen said sounding mildly disappointed. Gwen gasped again and pulls away violently from Suzie's body. Jack grabbed hold of Gwen and Evie had to grab hold of her jealousy. The couple really needed a good long talk about dealing with other people.

"Just ... memories. Nothing living. She's too far gone," Gwen said after recovering herself for a moment. Evie sighed and slouched on the railing. She wouldn't be confronting Suzie after all.

"What do we do now?" Tosh called from her desk, where she had been watching the proceedings (or likely not watching and just listening).

"Nothing we can do. That's it. We're out of options," Jack said leaning over the autopsy table and getting strangely close to Suzie in Evie's opinion. But then Evie was still in jealous mode, and everyone would seem too close to Jack for her liking.

"There's always the knife," Owen said slightly hesitant to bring it up. Jack turned to look at Owen blocking Evie's view completely of both their faces, "When she killed all those people, she always used the knife, it's made out of the same metal as the glove."

"We've seen it before, metallic resonance. Like the glove works better if the knife's part of the process, like closing a circuit," Tosh called from her desk. Evie turned to look back, but the wall was in the wrong place and Evie couldn't see their desks from there.

"Then let's use it," Gwen said sounding a bit eager. Evie looked over at her incredulously. They were trying again? Why the hell were they trying again?

"Small detail. The knife was used to kill people. She's already dead," Jack said turning to look at Gwen and consequently letting Evie see his face. He was looking every bit as incredulous as Evie felt.

"All right. So we kill her again," Gwen said sounding blasé about the whole thing.

"Okay, I'll admit I never liked Suzie much and I certainly don't approve of any of her actions from the point we first found the glove, but killing her again seems a little cruel. Bad enough bringing her back from the dead for two minutes, but to stab her, bring her back and let her die after two minutes seems to be going too far," Evie protested and everyone looked up at her. Apparently they had forgotten she was there, "Can't we come up with some other way to figure this out?"

"Any other ideas?" Asked directing the question mostly to Evie.

"Fully examine everything we can on this 'Pilgrim' thing. Check Suzie's things, see if there was anything there. Check old CCTV footage from around the time of the three murders to try and catch the killer. The normal stuff. How did we just skip to 'oh let's play with life and death'? Because Gwen said 'oh yeah, didn't you have a glove thing?' Since when have I been regulated to being completely ignored? No one even noticed I was in the damn room just now. Before we even think about trying to use the glove again, we should try and recover Suzie's research. Some of it was filed it by me, and should still be in the system somewhere," Evie said getting heated and she finally spun around on the railing and hopped off.

"Evie's got a point," Jack said slowly after a moment of silence, "Tosh, you and Evie get working on recovering the files, Gwen, you'll come with me to check Suzie's belongings, Ianto, I want you to see if you can't find something on Pilgrim, Owen see if you can't check out the CCTV around both crime scenes before and after the crimes. We might be able to get a face."

So everyone split off to their tasks and Gwen, Evie, and Jack were left staring awkwardly at each other.

"We three need to talk," Jack said leading the two women to his office.

"What's up?" Evie asked automatically taking the comfy chair on the right side of Jack's desk that she put there anyway.

"You two," Jack said bluntly, "You're constantly bickering, and I have yet to see you two ever work together seamlessly. I need you two to try. Try and get along with each other. That's all I want."

"Yeah, I can try," Evie said looking over at the brunette. Gwen in turn was looking right at Evie.

"I suppose I can try a little harder," Gwen admitted half-avoiding looking at Evie. It wasn't exactly the best start of things. But it was a start and Jack seemed content.

_**XX**_

Tosh and Evie did manage to find a few files about the Resurrection Gauntlet. And what they found did not make them happy people.

Suzie implied in several of her reports that it might be possible to bring someone back for good. But she also said that while bringing anyone back from the dead there had to be a steady exchange of energy from the wearer of the glove to the resurrected. So, if it were possible to bring someone back for good, it would eventually cost the resurrector his or her own life, in exchange for the resurrected.

Everything has a price.

The problem was that the report talking about the energy exchange had been partially deleted. Suzie had obviously tried to delete it without realizing that anything that had been connected to Evie's research, or anything that she had filed electronically using her own pass-code could not be permanently deleted without Evie's or Jack's pass-code. The CCTV for the hub was actually set up that way. No one could delete parts of the footage without either Jack or Evie signing off on it.

But, because the report had sat so long in the buffers it had deteriorated, in a sense. The hub's computers were not designed to hold things in the buffer for very long, everything was supposed to be sent to one of the interconnected external storage device; one for each member of Torchwood since the organization began to use computers regularly. There was a large portion of the report missing, and a couple of small portions where the characters had been replaced with other font characters, some of which were equivalent, but others were completely random, and made guessing some words very hard.

But as soon as Jack and Gwen came back from the storage locker Evie took their results to Jack, who in turn told her about the Pilgrim flyer they found. Ianto came over a short while later to tell them that there was nothing digital for the group, but there had been similar flyers in both the houses of the three victims. It looked like it was some sort of theological debate group.

But they still didn't know why Suzie would go to this Pilgrim group over going to Jack. Suzie had liked Jack, probably in a romantic way. Evie had stolen all of Jack's attention from the moment she spoke to that blowfish, but Suzie had obviously gotten into his bed on one or two occasions even while Evie was working for Torchwood. If Suzie needed to talk it made no sense for her not to turn to Jack when things got rough.

That's when Evie understood.

"She planted it all," Evie breathed with a disbelieving smile while still in a meeting with Jack and Ianto.

"What?" Jack asked turning to look at her.

"Suzie had to have planted everything," Evie told him, "If she needed to talk, she would have turned to you, not some group of strangers. This guy with the retcon? Suzie probably retconned him, and manipulated the dosage and some of the restraints on it. We need to catch this guy, but at the same time…I think it's all Suzie's machinations."

"You've definitely got a point," Jack said just as Owen came bursting in with a printout.

"I've got a face, and a name of sorts," Owen announced handing Jack the printout.

"A name 'of sorts?'" Evie asked stepping over to get a look at the paper in Jack's hand.

"Looks like someone tried to erase him too, but managed to leave just his first name and photo," Owen said calmly.

"It's a plant," Evie announced, "I think the report I found might have been too. But that might have been genuine, because I never told her that I had connected all her work with the gauntlet to my pass-code. She wouldn't have known that the buffer could catch it."

"What?" Owen asked and Evie quickly filled him in on her conclusions.

"Yeah, then he was definitely a plant. But I think I can still get him. He's been in a club called 'The Wolf' a lot in the last six months. Waiting for us to find him probably," Owen told them.

"Jack?" Evie asked looking over to her boyfriend. He just waved his hand letting Evie take over, "Okay, then Owen you'll come with me to the club, and we'll bring him in. I expect you'll want to drive?" The last was a question directed at Owen, who quickly snatched the keys to the SUV as they all laughed.

_**XX**_

The club was a sort of gloomy dark shot through with red light (which did not comfort Evie in the least), and the music was far too loud for anyone to escape with their hearing intact. It was obviously a popular club, because the dance floor was very crowded, and there was barely room to dance (in the current style that looked more like having sex than dancing), let alone move around the dancers to look for one man in particular.

Owen and Evie were both wearing a pair of contacts, which Tosh had decided her done just a week before. They recorded images, and Tosh was working on lip-reading software, and a way to transmit text-type messages through the contacts. What was delaying her on both accounts was trying to keep the contacts clear.

But for the moment at least Owen and Evie had their comms, and the group in the hub could communicate with the two in the club with ease. They hadn't heard a single word from Gwen though, and she was likely a bit mad at Evie and Jack both, because she couldn't deal with herself. No doubt she'd be back to normal by the time this whole fiasco blew over.

Owen and Evie had been searching the club for well over an hour before they spotted the man. They had seen two other men already who came close to matching the description, but the third man was exactly the description and Jack told them over the comms that there was an exact facial match. So Owen and Evie (arguably the two smallest members of Torchwood) had to tackle the man to bring him in.

Max definitely fought back, and it was a good fifteen minutes rolling about on the floor grappling to dominance before Owen managed to get a stun gun into place on Max's side and he dropped. Right on top of Evie. Who was not happy. Jack over the comms was equally unhappy.

It was another good half hour before they got back to the hub, and Max was starting to come round. It wasn't the most high-tech stun gun in the world, just enough to get the job done.

"One brainwashed murderer," Owen announced as he left the driver's seat of the SUV. Evie followed a moment behind to help Owen get the much larger man from the SUV to the holding cells. It was some interesting legwork, and Jack came to help them very quickly but they got the man to the cells and Owen started his examination.

Poor guy's mind was in shambles. The word 'Torchwood' would set him off kicking and hitting the cell door growling like a beast of some kind; for the count of ten. It was the strangest thing. It lasted exactly ten seconds before he was sit back and stare blankly at the wall in front of him. Owen was working on what had happened, but he was lost. It wasn't exactly a normal occasion.

Then out of nowhere the power shut off.

Everyone was stuck in the hub, including Ianto who had been in the kitchen making a round of caffeinated beverages when they lost power. Normally Ianto would have gotten locked out too, but this once it was all six of them huddled around Tosh and Evie's desk trying to figure something out.

It was then that Owen remembered Max in the cells and realized he was chanting a poem.

"…_Stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality Because I could not stop for Death, ..." _Max was saying sounding quite mad as Owen, Jack, and Evie stood outside his cell watching as he rocked softly in rhythm with the cadence of the words.

"Is that a poem?" Owen asked not looking from the man in front of them.

"Yeah, Emily Dickenson. _I Could Not Stop For Death_," Evie replied to no one's surprise. Her flat was overflowing with books and she said she had read every book in her library plus some.

"But what does it mean?" Owen asked.

"It's a verbal trigger. Say it out loud, maybe repeat it a hundred times over and the Hub locks down," Jack said quietly. Evie nodded absent mindedly.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked turning to look at Evie.

"I can't recall ever reading Emily Dickenson. Well, there were a couple of poems in Secondary, but I never heard this one," Evie said staring forward. She wasn't looking at Max anymore, she was focusing on some middle distance.

"We'll figure it out," Jack said rubbing circles gently on Evie's back, "But we're got to get the hub unlocked first, try to fix Max, and get Suzie frozen again."

"Yeah, we'll deal with the trivialities first," Evie agreed and promptly turned and started back up to the hub.

"What's your plan?" Jack asked catching up with her.

"Getting help. I don't have a copy of any of Emily Dickenson's poems, so we need someone to get the same version of the Complete Works that Suzie had," Evie told him.

"Who's going to do that? The team's all stuck down here," Jack complained.

"Well, I would normally say Rhys or Eugene, but I think we should rectify the situation with the Cardiff police don't you?" Evie asked looking back at him.

"What?"

_**XX**_

"I've got reception, Evie," Ianto said holding out a cell phone.

"You're brilliant," Evie said with a grin as she took the phone, "I'm not sure I would have thought of using the Water Tower as a relay."

"Nice work, Ianto!" Jack called walking over to where Evie and Ianto were standing, "Now who the hell are we calling."

"I'll put it on speaker," Evie said with a grin.

_**XX**_

"You'd better not be wasting my time," Detective Swanson's voice came over the phone. Jack just stared at Evie holding the cell phone in her hand.

"We need a favor," Evie said with a small sigh. Whether or not it was Evie's idea, the woman still grated on her nerves.

"The humble police, helping the mighty Torchwood? Why don't you just help yourselves? Like you normally do," The detective asked over the phone making Evie grind her teeth. She was trying to mend things and this woman was just actively trying to make them worse.

"Because, for once, we can't," Evie admitted trying to sound civil. She failed miserably. Her voice was snappy like someone on their last nerve. A two second conversation had gotten her in this state, and the whole team seemed surprised. It usually took a lot longer to get her shouting. This woman was just not good for Evie's nerves.

"Why's that?" the detective asked again. Evie was practically growling when she replied.

"Because we're dealing with shit, and a little busy. If you could just do one little favor…" Evie trailed off implying that the team might be willing to do something for the police in the future.

"Well, I'm busy too, try someone else," The detective replied in a tone that clearly said she was about to hang up.

"We're stuck," Evie admitted reluctantly.

"In what way?" The damn woman was obviously enjoying this.

Evie paused for a long moment, and gave a deep sigh, "We're locked in."

"You're locked in?" The detective asked. She was going to get shot (completely non-fatally) when Evie saw her next.

"Just a little bit," Evie said rubbing her eyes.

"Locked in where?" Oh, yeah, she was getting shot. In the foot. Evie really wanted to shoot someone in the foot one of these days.

"In…The Hub," Evie grated out.

"And that's…?" The detective asked. She obviously had an idea of what Evie was talking about, but she was going to make her work for it.

"Our base, yeah," Evie admitted with a sigh.

"You're locked inside your own base?" Detective Swanson asked with a genuine laugh at the hilarity of the situation.

"It's really not that funny," Evie said angrily, "I know funny. I specialize in sarcastic humor. It's not funny."

"And how am I supposed to help you, exactly?" Swanson asked seeming mildly more serious than a moment ago.

"We need a book of poetry," Evie told her, "_The Complete Works of Emily Dickenson_. The…" Evie turned to look at Gwen and made a questioning motion.

"It's got a green striped cover with the circle with Emily Dickenson's profile on the front.

"A…Are you laughing at me!" Evie cried angrily realizing what the sounds from the other side of the phone were, "Goddamn! It's not that funny! Are you listening to me?"

"Would you be willing to repeat your predicament?" Swanson asked when she had recovered herself.

"Why would I do that?" Evie asked, "You fully understand my situation, all you need to do is send someone to a store and get a _Complete Works of Emily Dickenson_ and possibly do a poetry reading."

"What?"

"Well, you're going to need to read me bits of poetry that follow the verse that started off this whole convoluted mess. Because a) the location of the Hub is Top Secret, b) we can't get out to come get it, and c) you couldn't get in if you wanted to. Our tech or myself would take a good twenty minutes from the outside to get the power back, from the inside we can't do anything." Evie explained.

"If I have to read you poetry, you're going to tell the Bullpen what situation you lot are in," Swanson said with what Evie imagines was a smirk and a shake of the head. It made Evie's blood boil.

"Fine," Evie grated out and sat down on the ground. She didn't care that she was currently getting her favorite pair of slacks dirty. It was worth it to see Jack's expression on seeing her sit on the ground anyway.

Evie was forced to sit there for several minutes while Swanson loudly called everyone to gather around the phone to hear Evie's announcement and Torchwood's shame.

"All right, Ms. Smith, just say that one more time. Nice and clear," Swanson finally said with what Evie was positive was a smirk. Which Evie was going to get rid of. By shooting the woman in the foot.

"We're locked in our own base and we have no way of getting out without assistance," Evie grated out loudly into the phone. There was a chorus of laughter from the other end.

"Are you quite done being childish?" Evie asked with a huff, "This is a serious situation. Unless you want to deal with all the strangest things that happen in Cardiff…"

"Right, you lot, back to work..." Swanson's voice said semi-distantly. She probably had the phone on speaker. There was a beep and some shuffling, Swanson must have taken the phone off speaker. When she spoke again, she was obviously speaking into the phone, "Okay, we've got it. The Complete Poems, it's gonna cost you 20 quid."

"Okay, we're looking for _I Could Not Stop For Death_ we need to see what's before and after it," Evie ordered getting serious again, "I want you to read the verses directly before and directly after the poem."

"What if it doesn't work?" Swanson asked.

"Then we'll be reading the complete works of Emily Dickenson, won't we?" Evie replied leaning against her desk where she had moved in the long wait for Swanson to gather her entire force of police working the night shift.

"It's gonna be a long night," Swanson said faintly; she wasn't speaking to Evie, rather to someone in the office.

_**XX**_

Close to an hour and a half later they were still reading out verses of Emily Dickenson. Gwen and Owen had both managed to fall asleep on the couch and Ianto was reading one of Evie's books with a torch. Tosh was sitting in her own chair fiddling with some equations she had on a paper in front of her. The only one still paying attention were Jack and Evie themselves.

"Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell," Evie announced to the hub in general and nothing happened, then Evie added with a sigh, "Nope."

"Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed. Christ, she was a bundle of laughs," Swanson said over the phone. Her voice was tired and she was obviously as bored as the Torchwood team in the hub.

"Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed," Evie announced, "Nope, try another one. But you know, I agree the woman was downright depressing. I've very glad I didn't study literature after all. It was a tossup between Literature and going to the police academy before I decided to become a physicist."

"You? Police?" Swanson asked incredulously.

"Yeah, wanted to protect people," Evie replied shrugging her shoulders, even though Swanson couldn't see. Jack leaned over and kissed Evie one the forehead. Just then Tosh broke in.

"Wait a minute, just had a thought ... If words cause the lockdown, maybe numbers reverse it ... Try the ISBN, every book's got a different number," Tosh said with a sudden epiphany.

"Did you hear that?" Evie asked (Tosh wasn't being exactly quiet). "You figured because of you equation?"

"No, I was tweaking your time travel theory anyway," Tosh said shrugging.

"You were messing with my equations?" Evie asked looking incredulously at the older woman.

"I got it" Swanson broke in trying to break up the argument.

"The keyboards aren't working," Jack said looking at Tosh.

"But the membrane underneath might just recognize the code," Tosh replied, "If not, Evie has to read it aloud anyway."

"0-1-9," Swanson started and Evie repeated after her, "8-6-0-0-5-8-5."

As Evie spoke aloud Tosh typed the numbers into her computer. AS Tosh typed the last number her monitors lit up and said "AUTO POWER RESUMING."

"That's it! Thank God!" Evie shouted happily, "Thank you Detective Swanson. Hopefully we'll be able to work together again the future. In all likeliness it will not involve Dickenson, and I officially hate the woman."

"Pleasure," Swanson said sounding almost sarcastic, "Perhaps we'll get together some day to discuss our hate of Emily Dickenson."

"I'd be delighted, just call Torchwood, the message will get to me eventually," Evie told her.

"I'll be sure to call later this week,"

"I look forward to speaking with you," Swanson replied and both women hung up the phone. The whole team was alert now, and staring at Evie (Evie's earlier shouting had wakened Owen and Gwen and made Ianto look up).

"What?" Evie asked and the whole team just laughed at her.

_**XX**_

Now that the hub was back to working order they had to deal with everything else.

The whole thing had been a plot by Suzie so long ago, and it had centered on the Resurrection Glove. No doubt, she had planned that they would resurrect the woman. And they would have.

If Evie hadn't interrupted when she did, they would have found a way, and Suzie would have been brought back. No doubt the woman had some kind of agenda for wanting to come back from the dead, but it wasn't something that Torchwood would ever allow to happen in the future.

So Evie took a gun, and the glove and went down to the shooting range. And she shot it. The Glove exploded rather spectacularly, and it seemed things were good. Everything back to normal.

But there was more still to deal with.

Suzie had to be refrozen, and Max had to be taken care of.

Max turned out to be easier for the team.

It seemed that Suzie had been modifying retcon to do all this, so Evie and Owen modified some retcon of their own to fix the psychological damage to the man. He went back to his life without realizing what had happened. He lost one day, and it was a mystery he would never act on. Who wants to admit they had lost part of their life, and has no idea what had happened. Evie certainly never liked it.

Suzie, while physically easier to deal with, was psychologically much harder. Suzie had worked with them (except Gwen, who she had tried to kill), and to know that the woman had plotted all of this…It was disturbing.

Evie dealt with it, and Jack came down when she was mostly done.

"Thanks for doing this," Jack sighed looking down at the white body bag.

"Jack, I have all the right authorization," Evie told him, "I know you feel like you need to do it, but I can deal with it. You picked her, you thought you knew her. I knew I didn't like her and that was the extent of things. I'm distanced from the situation."

Jack sighed and leaned against the wall of cubbies, "One day, we're going to run out of space..."

"It will be a very long time from now though," Evie told him softly, "None of us have any intentions of dying anytime soon. This room is just former Torchwood employees, and we've got a room for aliens, and another for dead homeless, family-less people used for cover ups. We've got room. More room than even you know. I found a whole empty room three floors down."

"We have that many floors?" Jack said his melancholy lost for just a moment.

"Yeah, the main hub ins four stories down right? Well we're got another ten below that. Don't ask how it works this close to the bay, but somehow we have fourteen stories of room. Rethinking hiring more people yet?" Evie asked with her signature cheeky grin as she closed Suzie's cubby.

"I'm starting to," Jack admitted stepping away from the wall, "Why was I living in that tiny little room again?"

"Because you never bothered to take a real look around the hub? This place is huge. There's enough room for all six of us to actually have full apartments here, and bring any significant others, or kids to live here. It's HUGE," Evie told him.

"You wanted to hire the guy Eugene right?" Jack asked as the two left the storage room.

"Yeah, but let him finish his education first," Evie replied calmly, "I'm thinking we should let Gwen tell Rhys about this. Not necessarily have him join, just let him know. It's hard on both of them that they can't talk about it. I'm afraid their relationship will fall apart Gwen can't talk about it all."

"I…think you're right actually," Jack admitted, "But it's breaking all the rules…"

"Jack, you realize that you're head of the Torchwood Institute right?" Evie asked, "You can make the rules these days."

"Really?" Jack asked.

"You've been here longer than Archie over at Torchwood Two. You're the Head," Evie reminded him, "All the funding comes through here. Where Ianto deals with it. We funnel a decent amount to Archie, but he only really needs enough to pay his bills and pays his rent and buy some food and such. He lives in Torchwood House. We have a large surplus of money sitting in a bank accounts, despite our large paychecks. We could afford to hire at LEAST fifteen more people at the same pay as the six of us, and the monthly stipend would still pay to keep the hub running. That's not even breaking into the surplus. If we start hiring more people the Queen is start sending us more money."

"I think we should look for more police officers, soon to be former police officers," Jack said his face lighting up.

"And we should move," Evie replied.

"What?"

"We should move into a flat closer to the hub. As it is it takes far too long to get to the hub in the case of an emergency," Evie said with shrug.

"How much will that cost?" Jack asked and Evie felt giggles bubbling up of the…the…domesticity of the situation. It wasn't Jack's normal style was it?

"Depends on whether we're buying or renting," Evie replied, "It'll be a good bit more to buy, but at the same time it's a stable place close to the hub for an extended amount of time, whereas if we rent and stay there for a very long time it will cost more in the long run. So if you were to remain there into the foreseeable future, it will actually be cheaper in the long run to buy."

"Then we'll buy," Jack replied making Evie feel warm and fuzzy. The implication that he would stay with her that long…It was a nice feeling after all the uncertainty in their relationship.

_**XX**_

After everything with Suzie and the murders, things went back to normal surprisingly quickly. It was two days before Gwen and Evie were arguing again. This time it was over whether or not they should wait to inform Rhys of Torchwood, and under what situation, and who should tell him. The argument ended with the agreement that Gwen would tell him, and soon. But on a day he had off and he would be brought to the hub to truly introduce him to the whole reality of the situation.

That same day Evie went to meet Eugene for lunch where she promised that when he finished his degree, he would have a job at Torchwood. Twenty minutes of happy dancing later Evie took him on a tour of the hub, and formally introduced him to her five teammates. He was suitably impressed, and from all reports redoubled his efforts on his degree. He would probably finish a year early.

Jack and Evie went flat-shopping the following Friday, when Jack proclaimed that he and Evie had the day off. Owen had made an inappropriate joke about what they would be doing, and Evie threw the basketball at him, with surprising accuracy. It would have hit him in the face if he hadn't ducked right in time.

The flat-shopping took all day, and the very last flat they looked at Evie turned and looked at Jack.

"Buy it," She had ordered him rather forcefully. Jack turned to the realtor and asked for the paperwork.

They had bought the flat by Monday, and they moved in on Tuesday (which Jack proclaimed they also had off).

Wednesday Gwen brought a stunned looking Rhys into the hub just as Evie burst from the storage room behind the kitchen looking like she was about to kill someone.

"JACK BLOODY HARKNESS!" Evie screeched storming right past Rhys and Gwen still in the doorway, "Where the HELL is my box!"

"It's at the flat!" Jack called down from his office, using the door as a shield.

"No, it is not!" Evie yelled back taking the steps two at a time until she was right in front of him, "I would have seen it! I'll have you know that my father made that box two months before I was born and if it is missing I will bloody well kill you!"

"I put it in the SUV, when we were moving the last of my things to the old flat," Jack told her in something that vaguely resembled calm, "I know it was placed under the bed, and I swear I put it myself into the moving van when we moved in yesterday. I put it in the closet."

"If it isn't in the closet when we get home I will bloody strangle you," Evie promised sounding much calmer.

"I promise I put it in the closet, all the way in the back by where you put my tux," Jack promised. Evie went right back down the stairs and paused when she saw Rhys still in the doorway.

"Oh, hello Rhys," Evie said with a cheerful smile. Then Evie turned to her desk and continued gathering up her books and reorganizing them. Some of them were going to the new flat, which was much larger than the old one. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a large kitchen, and a HUGE master bathroom, which happened to include a nicely sized walk-in closet.

"Is it always like this?" Rhys asked behind Evie sounding truly scared of the small woman humming at her desk.

"Oh, sometimes it's Gwen and me yelling at each other," Evie said looking over her shoulder, "Then there's the arguments between Owen and Ianto, and the times when Gwen and Jack go at it."

"So, everyone fights?" Rhys asked and Evie turned around leaning back on her desk.

"Not at all," Evie told him with a calm smile, "Tosh never argues with anyone because she's such a sweety, and I never argue with Ianto."

"Except that one time he let a cyberwoman into the base," Tosh reminded Evie looking over.

"Well, I wasn't really fighting with him as holding a gun to his head," Evie said with a shrug. If anything, Rhys looked even more scared.

_**XX**_

"We should paint it blue," Evie told Jack the Sunday after they moved in. The two were looking at the kitchen, which had stark white walls, white granite countertops, white cabinets, and a white tile floor.

"What part?" Jack asked looking at the surgically clean room.

"The walls," Evie replied, "Maybe some detailing on the cabinets."

"I like that," Jack replied as the two continued to stare at the white room.

"Where do we go to get paint?" Evie asked.

"I don't know. I was going to ask you," Jack replied looking over at his girlfriend. The two burst out laughing before going around the flat picking out colors for the whole place. Their bedroom would be pale green, their bathrooms would be an even paler (almost white) green, with the bedroom color detailing a chair rail, the second bedroom would have a light brown (just shy of tan) with wooden wainscoting, the living room was another blue liked the kitchen, but a little darker, and the dining room was an elegant dark wine red with white wainscoting.

The two took yet another day off work (and gave the rest of the team off) in order to paint everything. Rhys came around dinner time with food to join in, Eugene had joined them at lunch time, because his only class for the day was in the morning. Detective Swanson even stopped in for an hour to congratulate Evie and Jack on getting a new flat.

Evie and the detective had met the day before Jack and Evie went flat-shopping and had a long and productive lunch. In it they had agreed that Emily Dickenson was a tiresome and depressing dead lady, and that Torchwood and Cardiff Police should cooperate more. They also agreed that they should have someone to formally be a go-between for the two organizations. They had even looked at a few of Swanson's current officers to see who might work best with the Torchwood team. It looked like Andy Davidson would be the best. He had been paired with Gwen before she left the police, and he had lived in Cardiff his whole life, and was fully aware of all the weirder stuff that happened in the city.

They were something resembling friends these days, and when they spoke Evie referred to her as Cathy, instead of 'Detective Swanson' like before.

_**XX**_

"Hello," Alice said standing awkwardly in the doorway to Jack and Evie's new flat with Steven clutching his mother's hand.

"Hello! Come in," Evie said stepping aside to let them in, "We finished painting just yesterday, so some of the furniture isn't definite for positioning yet. I think the couch needs to go on the other wall, but Jack thinks we just need a new couch in general. I happen to like this old thing, but who knows. It might die one of these days, and I can definitely see him deciding to rush it along just to force me to go help him pick out a new one."

"So, you two are serious?" Alice asked letting Steven's hand go. Alice liked Evie after all, and trusted the younger woman to hide anything incriminating.

"Yeah, I suppose," Evie said furrowing her brow slightly, "He doesn't like labels. But one day I realized he had just kind of moved into my flat, and realized we should live closer to work. We're in charge after all, we need to be the first to respond if something happens."

"That…doesn't really sound like him," Alice admitted.

"Maybe you never tried to get to know him?" Evie suggested, "I'm not trying to be rude, but Jack _really_ wants to see you and Steven more. That's why he insisted on seeing Steven over a cold. He knew it wasn't anything serious."

"I know," Alice said sighing as Evie led her over to the couch (which really was on its last leg of life), "I just never wanted to think about it. Mum said it was too dangerous, and gave me a fake name, and everything just…kind of…led me away from him."

"You should tell Steven," Evie said looking at the boy who had found Evie's collection of board games.

"I…don't want him to get hurt," Alice told her.

"He's not going to get hurt knowing that he has a living grandfather. It's best if you tell him now while he doesn't entirely understand. That way he probably won't remember calling him 'Uncle Jack'," Evie told her.

"I know, there's definitely a point, but, I just don't know if I could ever act on that awareness," Alice confided to her.

"You should though, and you know you should," Evie told her with a smile, "The sooner you act, the sooner things can get better."

"I know," Alice admitted and Evie went to go make dinner.

Jack came home an hour later, highly surprised to find Steven playing with a Mancala board and Alice and Evie joking in the kitchen as they finished off some kind of potato dish to go with what smelled like steak. The four of them had a good dinner, which was surprisingly like a normal family dinner. It didn't seem like one of their number was immortal, or that his girlfriend was younger than his daughter. It was like everything was right for once, and by the end of dinner Evie was sure that Alice was going to tell Steven, and that she would be seeing the older woman much more often.

_**XX**_

_**So, this chapter is actually a lot longer than I thought it was. I really thought this was going to be one of my shorter chapters, so I was rushing around trying to write lots of follow-up, only to realize that this was an above-average length chapter.**_

_**I'm glad I managed to work in so many scenes about Jack and Evie's relationship, and how both of them were dealing with the uncertainty of working for Torchwood, and Evie's issues, and Jack's commitment issues. And I brought Alice and Steven back, which I meant to do a couple of chapters ago actually.**_

_**I don't like this episode, but I do like this chapter. I don't like the episode because it's like an exhibition of Gwen's capacity for idiocy and the Team's love of indulging her in it. So I changed that. Just a little.**_


	11. The Doctor, Mutants, and Dreams

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is after They Keep Killing Suzie (about when Random Shoes would have happened had I not saved Eugene already), Doctor Who should be during the Lazarus Experiment, and The Sarah Jane adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

"Jack?" Evie called across the hub. Jack was listening to something Owen was saying about the most recent alien to fall through the rift and die in the process. Apparently the physiology was fascinating. Evie however, was not impressed. She was looking at current events.

"What's up?" Jack asked walking across the room. At the sound of Evie's voice Gwen , Tosh, and Owen had all stopped their work and turned to look at her. They were probably expecting some kind of sudden breakthrough on the nature of the universe.

"This news report," Evie said playing the clip for Jack, "Says he's going to change what it means to be human. So I went and hacked into a couple of Top Secret things, this is beyond human capabilities. I'll admit, it's not too far outside of what we can already do, but it is past us. It's looking like alien intervention. I think we need to go to this dinner thing tonight."

"I can't go," Jack said looking truly sorry about it all, "I need to stay near the rift. I promised Owen a night to get trashed, Gwen a night with Rhys, and Tosh a quiet night at home. Andy's coming to learn the ropes, but he's still learning the ropes. Can you handle it yourself do you think?"

"Yeah, probably," Evie admitted, "Can I buy a new dress?" Evie added with a bright grin.

"You've got money," Jack said humoring her a little.

"Yes, but as you won't come as my date, will you buy me a new dress?" Evie said with a smirk now.

"Yeah, take my card," Jack said and Evie hopped from her seat to go and retrieve said card.

"I probably won't be home tonight," Evie told Jack coming back downstairs, "Or if I am it will be really late, so I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"See you," Jack said and leaned down to kiss Evie.

Evie waltzed out and after the cog door shut behind her she whispered, "I love you." Then she walked up through the Tourist Office and past Ianto.

_**XX**_

The drive to London was slightly tiresome, but Evie made it, and went shopping and bought a new dress with a good hour to spare before she had to go to the party thing. Evie had called the PR person for the company who had confirmed that as a representative of Torchwood Institute's current head she was invited and allowed a plus one. She had informed the woman that her plus one would have been the Head of Torchwood, but he was busy.

The hour before the party Evie spent in a decent (three star) hotel, close to the party location. She did up her hair in soft ringlets and used a range of soft and natural looking make-up on her face. The dress she bought was definitely a cocktail dress, and it was stylish, without killing Evie's own style. It was a royal blue, that stood out in a crowd, and it had an empire style waist with silky flowing fabric slightly pleated from the high waist falling to rest right at her knees. Evie had taken the liberty of buying herself some new shoes to match her new dress. And she had only picked up one ticket, so Jack wasn't going to be _that_ mad when he saw the bill.

The party looked like it was going to be one of those boring, why-the-hell-did-I-even-bother-to-come kind of parties, but then Evie noticed a couple come in. Except, they weren't a couple and it was obvious. They had just come to the party together.

"Oh, look, they've got nibbles! I love nibbles!" The man was saying excitedly when Evie walked up.

"Hello," Evie said genuinely, "I'm Evie Smith. Do you two know anything about the mechanics of the project?"

"What?" The woman asked making Evie take notice of her. She was pretty enough, but the headband she had used to pull her hair away from her face was covered in sequins and sort of got on Evie's nerves.

"Right, sorry. I'm a little worried there might be something not entirely…right, about this whole project. See, I looked at a few reports of the mechanics, and I can't see it being in time with the current development of technology. Not and be totally terrestrial in nature," Evie told them feeling awkward. Why on earth had she chosen these two to ask questions about?

"You think it's alien?" The man asked eagerly, "Right, I'm the Doctor."

"The…The Doctor?" Evie asked slightly incredulous. This goofy man with his crazy hair was _the_ Doctor? "You mean…The Doctor, the Doctor as in travels through time and space in a little blue box? I thought you'd be a little more severe. At least, my boss implied you looked a little severe, except when you smiled."

"Who's your boss?" The Doctor asked obviously taken aback.

"Oh, Jack Harkness," Evie replied shaking herself, "I suppose since you're here you agree with my assessment?"

"Yeah, of course. How did Jack get to the 21st century?" The Doctor asked as his companion (because who else could this woman be?) stood and stared at the two.

"The slow way," Evie replied, "He's been in Cardiff since the late 1800s."

"Reeeaally?" The Doctor asked drawing the word out.

"Yeah. He doesn't usually talk about it. But he was drunk, like really drunk about two weeks ago, and as I was driving us home he confessed all kinds of things about traveling through time with The Doctor and Rose. I admit I was a bit jealous. He's my boyfriend after all," Evie added the last bit with a shrug.

"Boyfriend?" The Doctor said looking stunned, "Jack settled down?"

"We bought a flat together a week ago," Evie told him just as a woman walked up.

"Hello," The woman greeted calmly looking questioningly at the Doctor and Evie, but focusing on the Doctor's Companion (it totally deserved a capital the way Jack talked about it all).

"Tish," The woman said happily hugging the other woman (who judging on familial resemblance Evie would pin as a sister, or at least a closely related cousin.

"You look great. So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it?" Tish asked looking smug. No doubt she had a large part in the organization if she was this smug.

"Very," The Companion replied nodding and looking impressed.

"And two nights out in a row for you—that's dangerously close to a social life," Tish said teasingly. Sisters then, cousins aren't usually that close. Sure there are exceptions, but generally…sisters.

"If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns," The Companion said jokingly.

"You might, actually. Keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum—she's coming too, even dragging Leo along with her," Tish said deadly serious.

"Leo in black tie? That I must see," the Companion said incredulously. In that moment Tish looked back at the Doctor and Evie Smith who were standing awkwardly side-by-side watching the sisters converse.

"This is, uh, the Doctor," the Companion introduced awkwardly. The Doctor and Tish shook hands and Evie stepped forward.

"Evie Smith," Evie said offering her hand.

"Oh, you're the one that called today," Tosh said with a look of realization, "It's an honor that Torchwood took an interest in our project."

"Seemed right up our alley," Evie replied barely seeing the Doctor's horrified expression, "Had to be important for me to drive down from Cardiff today. Granted, it gave me an excuse to borrow my boyfriend's credit card."

"We're honored," Tish repeated, "I didn't know who you were when you called, secret government organization and everything, but then I asked the Professor, and he said you had to come."

"Well, normally my boss would have come with me, but he's training up the new guy," Evie said genially.

"Well, I should really go, but it's such an honor for you to be here," Tish said before walking away with a little wave to her sister.

"You're Torchwood?" The Doctor asked angrily, looking very little like the goofy man Evie had seen just moments before.

"Yeah, Torchwood Three is Cardiff, monitoring the Rift. You of all people should know about that," Evie said straightening her back and looking defensive.

"But _Torchwood_? Jack works for _Torchwood_?" The Doctor asked sounding more incredulous than angry now.

"You're mad about Torchwood One and Canary Wharf aren't you?" Evie asked picking up the problem right away.

"Well, yeah," the Doctor said thrusting his hands into his pockets.

"Jack hated Torchwood One. The other night when he was talking about you? He was waxing poetic about Rose when he started crying, said she died in Canary Wharf. He's no fan of Torchwood One. Almost didn't hire Ianto because he used to work there. But then I yelled at him, and Ianto caught a pterodactyl and we started work the same day. It's been almost a year and a half since Canary Wharf," Evie told him.

"I see," The Doctor said as an older woman and a young man came up, obviously for the Companion.

"Martha," The woman said making Martha turn around to look. So that was the Companion's name. Nice name.

"Mum!" Martha said excitedly giving her mother a huge hug, as though she hadn't seen the woman in months. Martha must have been time traveling then.

"Oh. All right, what's the occasion?" The woman asked looking surprised by the welcome.

"What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all," Martha said trying to cover (and failing rather miserably).

"You saw me last night," Martha's mother said with a raised eyebrow.

"I know. I just…miss you," Martha admitted, which would make no sense to Martha's mother or her brother, and turned to her brother changing the subject, "You're looking good, Leo."

"Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch 'em a drink, I'll swing for him," The man replied and Evie grinned off to the side. He had a good attitude this one. It was then that Their mother noticed the Doctor and Evie still standing to the side watching things go down. It was inevitable, but Evie was curious as to how the woman was going to react.

"You disappeared last night," The older woman said seriously looking back at her daughter. Ah, she probably thought that Martha had run off with the Doctor for the fun of it last night.

"I...just went home," Martha said nervously, and when her mother replied it was with a glance to the Doctor and Evie again.

"On your own?" Martha's mother asked.

"This is a friend of mine, the Doctor," Martha introduced the man and before the older woman could ask any questions Evie stepped forward to lessen the awkwardness between mother and child.

"And I'm Evie Smith. I'm the Second-in-Command for the Torchwood Institute, we're from Cardiff and we deal in all cutting edge technologies. I was asking the Doctor here about the technology, because he understands it so well," Evie said drawing attention from the man, while including him, "He's had a lot of experience with similar technologies, especially sonic based ones like this."

"I…see," Martha mother said taking Evie's proffered hand, "I'm Francine Jones, Martha's mother."

"A pleasure to meet you Mrs. Jones," Evie said just as Professor Lazarus stood on a dais to make a speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lazarus began, "I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever."

"That does not sound as comforting as he probably wishes," Evie commented quietly to the Doctor who was standing closest to her as Lazarus entered the cabinet and technicians started it working, "Last time I woke to a changed world it was because I lost six hours of my life on a mission and thirteen cannibals were dead."

The four pillars around the cabinet started whirling around the cabinet as the Doctor looked over at Evie staring intently at the machine. There was a crackling blue energy field created and the pillars were moving faster and faster. Then there was a klaxon.

"Shit," Evie said her shoulders slouching.

"Something's wrong. It's overloading," The Doctor said loudly to let Martha in on what was happening. The technicians on the other side of the machine were scrambling trying to stop the machine, but panels were exploding and sparks were flying. The Doctor made a rather awesome looking move jumping over the low desk and aiming his screwdriver at the controls at the same time.

"Somebody stop him! Get him away from those controls!" An old, severe, looking woman ordered angrily.

"Shut it!" Evie yelled angrily, "I'm Torchwood." The immediate freezing of the woman's features confirmed what Evie had suspected; someone, something, was helping these people along, "He knows what he's doing better than that idiot in the box."

As Evie said all this the Doctor was in the middle of pulling a wire out and the cabinet and pillars slowly stopped spinning as Martha and the Doctor ran to the door to meet the old man out of the box.

"Get it open!" The Doctor ordered as Evie walked sedately to meet them. Somehow in less than a minute she had taken over the operation. Who said Torchwood was finished?

The man who stumbled out of the cabinet was at least forty years younger than he was when he stepped in. The photographers were having a field day with all the camera flashes blinding the three people standing on the dais in front of the machine. The professor made several motions touching his face and looking down at his hands to see if he had actually changed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!" He announced ignoring the three people standing next to him. He went on to stand for pictures with various influential people.

"It can't be the same guy. It's impossible. It must be a trick," Martha said as Evie pulled a portable scanner from her handbag, which had some clever stitching to allow for more storage on the inside than was readily apparent from the outside.

"Nope," Evie said looking at the screen, "His DNA almost perfectly matches Professor Richard Lazarus. A few anomalies that I can't analyze properly with this little scanner."

"Where were you hiding that?" Martha asked looking at the size of the scanner. It certainly looked too large to fit in her little purse.

"In my bag," Evie said hefting the little beaded blue bag.

"It's not dimensionally transcendental is it?" The Doctor asked looking worried.

"Nope, but I have been working on it," Evie admitted, "When I'm not working on Time Travel at least." The look on the Doctor's face was completely priceless. It didn't matter that Evie had _not_ been working on making things dimensionally transcendental (that was Tosh's pet project), his face, when he realized that one of his former Companion's girlfriends was working on what could essentially make a TARDIS look-alike, was amazing.

_**XX**_

"I'm famished," Lazarus was saying as the Doctor, Martha and Evie approached him a little while later.

"Energy deficit. Always happens with this kind of process," The Doctor said in way of explanation.

"You speak as if you see this every day, Mr…?" Lazarus said looking to the other man.

"Doctor. And, well, no, not every day, but I have some experience in this kind of transformation," The Doctor said calmly watching as the man held a full tray of hor d'ouvres with full intentions of eating all of them.

"That's not possible," Lazarus asserted proudly.

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's—that's inspired," the Doctor admitted freely looking at the blond man.

"You understand the theory, then," Lazarus commented offhandedly.

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables," The Doctor said working to stare the other man down.

"No experiment is entirely without risk," Lazarus said casually. And Evie burst out with a disbelieving snatch of laughter.

"'No experiment is entirely without risk'? Who are you to decide that the first experiment, which is 'not without risk' should be shown in front of dozens of people who could be hurt, or even killed. If it had killed you, I wouldn't even mourn the loss," Evie said truly disgusted with the man in front of her, "All you are is a greedy lecherous old man who wished he could get it up one more time. Disgusting."

There was a long moment of silence as everyone stared between Evie and Lazarus. Lazarus was growing red, but not with embarrassment. The man was furious, and in Evie's opinion that just meant her educated guess (based on the fact that all the technicians were beautiful women) was spot on.

"I'll need a DNA sample," Evie added just to add fuel to the fire. She was close enough she could just use her scanner and it could get mostly accurate readings, but just far enough that they wouldn't be perfect. She still needed the damnable man's DNA, "A few strands of hair with the roots in tact should work."

Lazarus angrily plucked out three hairs and shoved them in Evie's hand before stalking off with the old woman close on his heels.

"That makes me feel so much better," Evie said tucking the hairs into a plastic bag she pulled from her bag, making Martha and the Doctor wonder once more how the thing worked.

"Sooo…" Martha said looking to the other woman. They were about the same age. It was only in this moment that Evie realized. And look at where they both were. Martha was travelling with an alien across time and space and Evie was protecting the earth from a dark underground base in Cardiff, Wales. It certainly wasn't what Evie expected to do with her life, and she couldn't help but wonder in the woman in front of her had ever even thought of travelling the stars. If it had ever been a passing dream of her childhood.

"Time to go analyze those," Evie said with a smile wandering off and both the Doctor and Martha were forced to try and keep up with her. There were a number of labs on the upper floors of the building, in fact an average of fifteen labs per each of ten floors, some had more, a few had less, but it was still a striking number of labs for a building with thirteen floors. Evie found one that had a very advanced set of microscopes, and led the other two into the room.

Martha was practically drooling over some of the equipment, so Evie made the assumption that outside of being the Doctor's current Companion she was also in the some kind of bio-science of medical field. Which would be very useful in Torchwood now that Jack had agreed that she could begin hiring new people. Evie had been very excited about the whole thing ever since Jack gave his approval, and was watching everywhere she went for people with suitable credentials.

Maybe when Martha left the Doctor she would offer her a job at Torchwood, because Evie wanted only the best, brightest, and most trustable. Travelling with the Doctor would _always_ be the biggest recommendation anyone could have for Torchwood.

Evie set up the microscopes and the hair and sat back for the Doctor and Martha to get a good look at it. She was pretty sure there was something pretty damn weird, but bio-science and medical were never even close to her specialty.

"Amazing," The Doctor breathed after a long moment.

"What?" Martha asked obviously she hadn't seen whatever the Doctor had yet. Evie was looking too, but wasn't sure what she was looking at.

"Lazarus's DNA," the Doctor replied looking smug, then Evie saw it. The DNA _changed_.

"I can't see anything different," Martha said looking closer at the screen.

"Did it just do what I think it did?" Evie asked leaning back.

"What do you think it did?" The Doctor asked. But before Evie could reply Martha interrupted.

"Oh, my God! Did that just change? But it can't have!" The independent woman exclaimed.

"But it did," the Doctor replied smugly.

"It's impossible," Martha refuted making Evie snort.

"You travel with a time traveling alien with two hearts who can change his face instead of dying and you say anything is impossible?" Evie said not really seeing Martha's stunned expression about the face-changing bit, "I just work for an organization dealing with aliens on earth and visit my Niece, and even I know that nothing's impossible."

"What does your niece have to do with anything?" The Doctor asked confused over the tidbit of information Evie had offered.

"Well she traveled with you after all," Evie said dismissively.

"Who is this?" Martha asked with a stern expression. Evie looked at her curiously, that was some deep-seated jealousy issues right there.

"Sarah-Jane," Evie replied still giving Martha an odd look. Who could be the one to instill that much jealousy?

"Oh? I thought she only had one aunt, who raised her," The Doctor admitted.

"Well, first of all, she has three older siblings. But she didn't even know about me until about a year ago. I was trying to find out what happened to my brother. Turns out he ended up in 1945 somehow, we think it was the Cardiff Rift," Evie told him in a lecturing tone.

"So…you're Sarah-Jane Smith's…Aunt?" The Doctor asked sounding rather slow to Evie. Wasn't this man supposed to be a slightly gruff, frequently kind0hearted, occasionally insulting, very intelligent creature? Did he change this much with his face?

"Yeeeees…" Evie drew out slowly, nodding her head lightly, "And her son Luke calls me Auntie Evie. His friends just call me Evie, but I suppose I'm really too close to their age to be Ms. Anyone."

"Son? Sarah-Jane has a son? Since when?" The Doctor asked completely forgetting about Martha. She seemed to have moved past the jealousy, but now she was looking annoyed at the fact that Evie and the Doctor were chatting about Sarah-Jane while there was a man with mutating DNA wandering about somewhere in the building.

"Oh, she adopted him…Close to two years ago now. Mostly we just talk on the phone, but there was a rather memorable trip to visit where Sarah-Jane, Luke, and I all ended up in 1951 on the day that Eddie, my brother, died. Almost ended the world because Sarah-Jane tried to save them. Sarah-Jane seems to deal with world ending things more often than we do at Torchwood." Evie commented lightly.

"Could we get back to the matter at hand?" Martha finally broke in sounding highly annoyed with them, "You know, Lazarus?"

"Right, to deal with Lazarus's changing molecular patterns," Evie announced cleaning up the evidence of their examination.

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands. Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate," The Doctor said half to himself, and half to Martha who was looking at him.

"But they're still mutating now," Martha replied as they both ignored Evie cleaning prints.

" 'Cause he missed something. Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilize. Something that's trying to change him," The Doctor replied rather ominously.

"Change him into what?" Martha asked and Evie almost scoffed. There was no way to know what he was turning into until he turned into one.

"I dunno but I think we need to find out," Was the Doctor's reply as Evie tucked everything back into her purse. Which, really wasn't dimensionally transcendental. They were working on a way to manufacture exotic particles, but, like the rest of the scientists on earth, they had no way of doing it on a large enough scale.

"That woman said they were going upstairs," Martha suggested eagerly.

"Let's go!" The Doctor replied with a grin. Somehow Evie was sure he was even more reckless with his life than Jack was. Which was rather amazing considering how few times he had managed to die. There was an old file buried in the Torchwood archives about him. According to their records he had been seen with ten different faces over the years, so at most he had died nine times. Jack was already in the thousands from what Evie could pry from her close-mouthed boyfriend.

They immediately got onto the lifts and made their way up. The building was really a bit stupid. The whole top floor was for Lazarus and his executive staff took long periods sitting around up there, but their offices were one floor down. Why the hell would anyone need an entire floor for one man's _office_. Sure, if he lived in the building it could be acceptable, an office right off the lifts and through a door or two you'd have a sitting room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, that kind of stuff. As things were it was all just ridiculous.

"This is his office, all right," Martha commented as the lift doors opened

"So, where is he?" The Doctor asked and Evie stepped past both of them deeper into the office. What she found was not happy. Not happy at all. As Evie froze looking down at the floor Martha was still talking.

"Dunno. Let's try back at the re…ception," The stutter in that last word told Evie that Martha had seen what she had. There was a corpse, almost completely skeletal, half hidden behind the desk that was assumed to be Lazarus's. The corpse was wearing heels and what looked disturbingly similar to the old lady downstairs' dress.

"Is that Lady Thaw?" Martha asked sounding disgusted by the idea.

"Very likely," Evie said feeling as disgusted as Martha sounded. If this woman who had fawned over Lazarus had been a victim…very likely no one would be safe4 or even resembling safe.

"Used to be at least. Now it's just a shell. Had all the life energy drained out. Like squeezing the juice out of an orange," the Doctor said sounding and looking sad. He had probably seen things worse, but from what Evie could see, he never stopped thinking things sad.

"Lazarus," Martha said what Evie was thinking

"Could be," The Doctor replied obviously not wanting to trap himself into one idea. Or he wanted Martha to keep her mind open, either way Evie had a comment.

"Is," Evie said stepping closer to the desiccated body, "Look, there's nothing around here for any hints. Whoever or whatever did it got in here without trouble. So either it's someone who works here, or it's someone with a sonic screwdriver. As you have the only sonic screwdriver I've actually seen on Earth, I'm going with the works here idea. And I very much doubt that anyone else on the staff had such an intense energy deficit that they would be stealing was conniving old women."

"She definitly has a point," Martha said following the reasoning.

"Thank you," Evie said quickly as she stooped to take a closer look at the body, Then she said absently "Theta, could you grab my spanner."

"What?" The Doctor said sounding shocked. Evie turned and looked at him confusedly.

"What?" Evie asked looking back at him, "I'm just getting my scanner out."

"You just…Theta…Me?" the Doctor said disjointedly.

"O-kay," Evie said pulling the bulky scanner from her bag, "I didn't say anything."

"You just asked someone called Theta for your spanner," Martha told the other woman."

"No I didn't," Evie said smiling, "I didn't say anything."

"Yes you did," Martha replied sounding annoyed.

"Damn," Evie said dropping her scanner, which promptly decided to break, "Not again."

The Doctor and Martha just stared at Evie as she sat down on the floor right next to the corpse, seemingly uncaring.

"What?" Martha asked sounding worried.

"I'm having black-outs again," Evie replied, "I vowed to never again carry a lethal weapon because I had a black-out, I was out for six hours, and when I came around I found out that I had killed thirteen people. If I don't have lethal weapons I can't do kill people. But I haven't blacked out since that one, we were hoping I was done, but…"

"I'll take a quick look at it after we catch Lazarus and deal with him, but do you think you'll be okay till then?" The Doctor asked with true compassion. No wonder he was called the 'Sainted Physician' he was certainly a saint when he wanted to be.

"Thank you," Evie said with a tremulous smile as she picked up the broken bits of her scanner, "This will be no good to us now, but seeing as Tosh and I built it…it's best no one gets their hand on it."

In seconds the pieces were fitted back into a form that looked similar to how it had been, and the pieces were placed in the ridiculous purse. With that the three were off back downstairs to see if Lazarus had returned there after they had left.

"I can't see him," martha said within seconds of the elevator arriving back at the reception.

"He can't be far. Keep looking," The Doctor ordered before wandering off deeper into the crowd.

"Well, he's helpful," Evie commented as the two women wandered aimlessly through the crowds watching faces for Lazarus' newly rejuvenated looks.

"He's usually like this," Martha admitted.

"How'd you end up travelling with him?" Evie inquired wishing she had her scanner still.

"Well the hospital where I work got taken to the moon," Martha told her.

"You work at the Royal Hope?" Evie asked curious, "We were wondering about it yesterday, but then I saw Lazarus this morning and we hadn't done any investigating."

"Yeah, the Doctor was pretty sure something strange was going on a guess. He was pretending to be a patient, made me listen to his hearts," Martha told her, "I was absolutely shocked when I realized the man had two hearts! I'm really a bit surprised I didn't make a scene over it all."

"Most people would I think. But I think the fact you didn't was probably part of why the Doctor took you travelling with him. He's been alone for over a year and a half linearly. No clue how long it was for him, but from what I've heard you're his next companion after Rose, right?" Evie asked looking over at the darker woman, "From what Jack's said he really loved her. Might have even become a romantic relationship is he hadn't lost her."

"He was that serious about her?" Martha asked looking a little heart-broken.

"Yeah," Evie admitted, "Jack definitely talked a lot about these looks the two would give each other, and he'd feel left out for all of half a second before he'd get right back on his feet. Jack's the biggest flirt on Earth, and one of the biggest in all of Time and Space. He makes some of the other people from the 51st century look almost, well, prudish."

"Don't you ever get jealous?" Martha asked earnestly.

"Oh, yeah. All the time. Just recently he went and flirted with the detective in charge of a case that was connected with a former comrade. I threatened to make him sleep on the couch, or return to the Hub to sleep in his cold lonely bed all by himself. At least these days he just flirts, nothing physical," Evie admitted with a light laugh. The blond pushed her hair back behind her ears wishing she had pulled it up more for the evening.

"Those earrings are really pretty," Martha commented reaching out like she was going to touch one.

"Jack got them for me. They match my necklace, which my brother gave me," Evie told her touching the earring herself.

"Do the patterns mean anything?" Martha said her hand dropping back to her side, but she leaned in to take a closer look at the necklace, which was larger, and thus easier to see.

"Sometimes…Sometimes I think they do. But if they have some sort of meaning I don't know what it is. Eddie never told me, and I don't know who he got the necklace from to give it to me in the first place," Evie told her with a sad smile. The two women stood looking at each other for a long moment before Martha looked past Evie's shoulder and looked surprised at what she saw. Curious, Evie turned to look, and saw Martha's brother Leo heading towards them.

"Hey, you all right, Marth? I think Mum wants to talk to you," Leo told Martha when he reached them.

"Have you see Lazarus anywhere?" Martha inquired making Evie want to hit herself in the head. As much as Evie understood the bond between a brother and sister, the woman had no tact.

"Yeah. He was getting' cosy with Tish a couple of minutes ago," Leo answered looking disgusted of the idea of his sister getting cozy with the old man turned young-looking-old-man-with-mutating-DNA-who-might-kill-said-sister-at-any-moment. But then, Leo didn't really know the mutating DNA going to kill people bit.

At that moment the Doctor rejoined them, closely followed (from a different direction) by Francine Jones.

"With Tish?"Martha asked her brother in shock.

"Ah, Doctor," Francine said looking like she wanted to talk to the tall thin man with crazy hair.

"Where did they go?" The Doctor was talking to Leo though.

"Upstairs I think, why?" Leo answered and off they went. Martha and the Doctor both managed to bump into Francine Jones on their way past. Evie paused a long moment before following them.

"I'm so sorry for their behavior," Evie told her sadly, "Here, take my card, call me tomorrow, I'll explain everything to you. It all makes sense eventually."

And Evie hurried through the crowds catching the other two just before the elevator doors closed.

_**XX**_

"Where are they?" Martha asked once more when they reached the top floor and Lazarus's office. Evie didn't blame her for repeating herself that way though. If it had been Eddie, Evie would be every bit as screwed up as Martha is. Of course, Eddie's the big brother and he wouldn't have been in exactly this situation, being that he was a rather strong young _man_, but the idea was the same.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver instead of answering Martha's question straight off. But Evie didn't know what that thing would do. It wasn't like it could scan the area for Lazarus's DNA signatures, because if it could the Doctor would have done that before all the up and down bits.

"Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature. I might be able to pick it up," The Doctor said in response to a look from Martha. Evie in return gave the man a very angry glare.

"Why didn't you do that before?" She hissed out through the clenched jaw. The Doctor looked a little sheepish, but didn't respond. He just turned around in a slow circle with the screwdriver held at arm's length.

"Got him," The Doctor said proudly after a long moment.

"And?" Evie asked grouchily. The Doctor was pointing his screwdriver at the ceiling and Evie looked up half expecting something to be stuck the ceiling. But there wasn't anything. Lazarus must be on the rooftop. Good thing Evie had spent her fair amount of time on roofs in the last few months following Jack up to rooftops when he was feeling restless.

"But this is the top floor! The roof!" Martha exclaimed and ran for the stairs. The Doctor was behind her in all enthusiasm, Evie was quite proud of the fact that she moved a little more sedately.

Of course moving sedately wasn't necessarily anything to be proud of really. Just something that made Evie feel a little more dignified than the nine-hundred-year-old maniac running around as though he was ten, and the twenty-something-year-old who was acting hardly any better.

When Evie reached the roof it was to find Martha talking to her sister, and the Doctor standing by as Lazarus contorted himself in what looked like pain, and seemed to change while Tish didn't notice a thing.

They were quickly running away as fast as possible from the monster that Lazarus had made himself into, because quite frankly at that point it was run or get all your life sucked from you by a crazed madman who was afraid of death. Not really a happy prospect.

They fled back into the building and the Doctor soniked the door shut, but they were all fairly positive that it wasn't going to hold Lazarus back. So they all went running down the hall towards the main stairs when the whole building went into lockdown. Needless to say, none of them were happy.

The four made their way to the reception to get everyone out of the building, and Evie cursed the whole way about stupid heels. She finallly just chucked them off two floors from the reception. No one questioned it, and Evie quickly passed the Doctor on her way down the stairs, taking them two at a time sometimes, and just running down in other places. At one point she jumped from four stairs up to right in front of a door. She glanced back at the other three, smiled and said "I like stairs."

As Evie opened the door the Doctor managed to burst through right past her, making her hair blow rather comically across her face. Evie fixed her hair with an irritated brush as Tosh and Martha followed the Doctor out through the door. Not a one of them thanked Evie for holding the door.

"Tish! Is there another way out of here?" The Doctor called behind him at the older of the two sisters.

"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now," Tish said with a small shake of her head. Seemingly without a thought the Doctor tossed his sonic screwdriver at Martha, who only just managed to catch it with a slightly confused look on her face.

"Martha, setting 54. Hurry," The Doctor said jumping up on the platform in front of the machine in the middle of the room. Martha and Tish rushed off to find the mysterious door while Evie stood at the bottom of the platform her hands folded in front of her resting lowly close to her waist, her bag dangling from her clasped hands. In other words, her posture screamed calm and in control of the situation, despite the fact that she had lost her shoes in the stairway, and been leaping down stairs not a full minute ago.

"Listen to me! Your people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!" The Doctor called at the people turned to look at him curiously. A woman in the center of the crowd scoffed before calling back at him.

"Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive," The woman said calmly. She was fairly pretty in a nice pink dress, that was very simple, without being boring. She was obvious sarcastic given her comment. She was also what Evie would call a 'red shirt' after the Star Trek concept that if they're wearing red they're going to die. So Evie wasn't going to let that happen. No one else needed to die tonight.

The glass shattered from a landing above them, and Lazarus came barreling after them. Everyone in the reception went rushing for the door, a few didn't move very quickly, including the 'red shirt', but also Martha's family.

"Mum, get back!" Leo was yelling. Lazarus sent him flying, but Francine was taking care of him, and no doubt as soon as Martha saw she would be at his side, so she wasn't much worried about the man. She was more worried about the woman in the middle of the room who was standing frozen in horror.

Evie rushed forward at her, and shoved her. Not enough to knock her over, just enough to shove her into motion, in seconds she was running towards the exits where it looked like Martha had gotten the door open.

So suddenly, Evie was standing in the middle of the floor, with Lazarus closing in on her, and all the people who could actually help her, just a little too far away. There was a huge scorpion-like tail coming right at her, and Evie opened her mouth to say something, she didn't know what, but just before anything could leave her mouth there was pain.

Such horrible excruciating pain. There wasn't anything else left. Just pain, pain, pain, pain, pain. Then suddenly it was gone. No more pain.

_Evie was floating._

_Or maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was sinking. She might have been flying. Maybe she was just lying down. She didn't know._

_But floating was nice. It was a nice word, it sounded nice, the reality was usually nice. It meant nothing bad had happened yet, and that was always nice._

_Everything was white. But maybe it was black. Or it might have been blue. But Evie liked the idea that it was white. White was so clean, like everything was new. It was nice. Like floating._

_But it wasn't silent. Evie wished it was, but she could hear things. Lots of things. Things she understood. Things that made no sense. Some things she though were real, and others she was sure couldn't be. Voices, speaking._

_There was a man. He had a lot of voices, but Evie knew it was all the same man. She heard him a lot. He liked to talk. Evie liked to listen. She could feel a smile in the listening. It was like hearing someone smile over the phone. But she was the one smiling. Except she wasn't smiling._

_There was another man too. Evie didn't like him. He talked a lot too, but Evie didn't like to hear him, and she tried not to. But she still heard him. Sometimes the two men were talking to each other. Usually they were arguing. Evie hated it when they argued. It made her sad. But the first man's voice made her smile. He was always arguing for her._

_There was a girl too. Evie knew her. Evie was sure she knew her. The voice was so familiar, the words were like she had said them herself. Evie thought it was herself, but it couldn't be. If it was her, she would know the voice. It would be her voice. But it wasn't her voice. It was another person's voice. The voice belonged to someone older than Evie. But she was younger too. But she was so innocent. So naïve. But she was also world-weary. She had lived a long life. But she hadn't lived that long yet._

_The voices were talking. The nice man and the girl-who-was-and-was-not-Evie. _

"…_love you," The man was saying._

"_I…Why can't I go with you?" The girl asked sniffing. She was on the verge of tears. She had be crying. She was crying. She was going to cry. But she had finished crying a lot time ago._

"_It's not safe," The man said gently, "I'll be back soon."_

"_You have to take me so I can keep you safe!" The girl cried innocently. She didn't understand. Couldn't understand. She was too young. She was too old. She was so very very old. So very very young._

"_I'll have my granddaughter," The man said and the girl was angry. She was so very angry. She couldn't remember her own name. She didn't have a name. She had sooo many names._

"_You'll take her? But you won't take me?" The girl cried out angrily. The man made a sound like he was going to argue, "I hate you!" The girl cried and –_

"Evie?" a voice asked as Evie shot up blinking up at the stars in the sky above her. Evie turned her head to see Owen. How did Owen get there. She had been in London. The Doctor had been there, and his newest companion, and they were being chased by Lazarus, and she had pushed the woman out of the way and –

She should be dead. That stinger whatever had definitely made contact. That much pain couldn't have been caused by anything else. Evie could remember that there had been something. Something had happened after the pain, but all she could remember was an achingly familiar voice, that she had never heard before, screaming "I hate you!"

"Owen?" Evie asked her voice raspy. Evie realized her throat was painfully dry. She must have been out a very long time for that. At the very least 24 hours.

"Hey, we were all really worried about you," Owen admitted using something that seemed like appropriate bedside manner.

"Who are you and what have you done with Owen?" Evie asked with a little cough to clear her throat a little, "I want my Dr. Snark back."

"Fine, I was trying to be nice," Owen snapped, but it was obvious his heart wasn't in it. At that moment there was a loud clattering and Jack came sliding in around the doorframe. It was then that Evie realized where she was. She was in their flat, Evie's and Jack's. The wall across from her was covered in books, and all the others were the paint she had chosen with Jack, what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Evie?" Jack gasped with some emotion that made Evie's breath catch, and she wanted to fling herself at her boyfriend feeling she had almost lost him.

"Jack," Evie said forcing herself to stay in bed. But Evie was smiling so widely that she would normally worry her face would split. But this was too important to worry about things like that.

"I thought…" Jack started walking forwards slightly more slowly (it was still basically him springing across the room to be right next to her), "I was so scared."

"I'm here Jack," Evie said reaching out and grabbing his hands in hers, "I won't ever leave you."

"Never?" Jack asked not noticing Owen as he slipped from the room. Evie however heard his footsteps, and heard the door click quietly shut behind him. Evie stared into Jack's eyes for a very long moment before answering.

"Never. I love you,"

There was no hesitation at all when Jack replied, "I love you, too."

_**XX**_

Evie was on bed rest for a week, and during that time the team filled her in on what happened after Lazarus attacked her at the party.

Apparently that endless moment of pain had been less than a milisecond. The Doctor had managed to get Lazarus away, and chasing him up through the building, and Evie collapsed to the floor all her energy spent, but still alive. Martha's family carried her out, and Martha chased after the Doctor and Lazarus.

911 had already been called by them, and when an ambulance arrived she bundled into it. The paramedics had opened up her purse and found ICE (In Case of Emergency) information on her smart phone, and called Jack, who was listed as her emergency contact. Jack had made the quickest trip ever (without alien technology at least) from Cardiff to London. It only took him a little over an hour, and it was a miracle he didn't crash, die, and have to find another car which would have made the trip considerably longer.

Jack brought a very unhappy Owen to London with him, and no one could figure out what exactly was wrong with Evie, or how to help her. She was breathing on her own, her heart was working perfectly, she was just asleep. It wasn't even really a coma, because the sleep was going through natural cycles, she just wouldn't wake. So the doctors sent her back to Cardiff with Jack and Owen. Jack drove the most cautiously he had ever done in his life.

Evie was out for a full week after she got back to Cardiff, and in that time Jack had somehow gotten it in his mind to buy Evie a dog. Not just any dog, but a golden cocker spaniel , which he named Penny, for some reason known only to him. Penny, despite being a puppy still, was well behaved, and frequently cuddled down on the bed next to Evie, and it was obvious she was a 'Mama's Girl' as Owen said.

When Evie was finally allowed out of the bed for more than just to use the restroom, Penny followed her around the flat. Evie wasn't allowed to leave the flat, but she could now lounge in the family room, and she discovered that Jack hadn't just bough Penny while she was out. He had also bought a _very_ large fish tank and filled it with bright colorful fish, and dull colored coral. It was also smack dab in the middle of Evie's living room. Needless to say, Jack spent the next several nights on the couch.

Evie also made him move the tank. It wasn't so much that be went out and bought fish, as that he didn't even think about where he could put the damn tank. She made him move all the furniture in the living room several times until she was content with the arrangement, and it allowed for the large tank, and let everyone see the brightly colored fish inside.

Owen laughed his ass off about the whole situation, and Evie knew he was back to normal. While Evie knew that everyone on the team truly cared about her, it was quite another thing to see Owen being so genuinely concerned and _nice_ there hadn't been a single snarky comment directed towards her since she woke up, and it quite unsettled her. But Ianto, Tosh, Gwen and Rhys had been by to see her, as had Alice, Steven, Eugene, and even Cathy Swanson came to see her.

After a week of confinement to the flat Evie was feeling fine, and driving Jack up the wall, because she was constantly begging to leave. When Owen came to check on her he was jumped by both Jack and Evie begging to let her out of the flat. Needless to say she was let out of the flat, and allowed to go about normal business, but she was forbidden to return to work.

Evie wasn't happy about that, but accepted it, because it would be Christmas soon, and baring rift activity everyone was getting a bit of extra time off. Even Jack was home during the day. So Evie spent a lot of time carefully picking presents for Jack, the team, Sarah-Jane, Luke, her friends in Cardiff (Rhys, Eugene, Cathy, Alice, and Steven), and the Joneses. She even bought presents for the Doctor, although she had no idea when she would see him next. It was a good thing she bought him some bright blue athletics socks, and two new pairs of Converse. There was no chance of them going bad or anything.

Evie wrapped the present and tucked in the backpack that Evie knew was packed in the hopes that the Doctor would appear in Cardiff. Jack missed the Doctor so much, and needed to know why he was the way he was, and if he could ever become fully mortal again, that Evie didn't blame him for the bag. She just made sure there was some food, a couple tea bags, a new water bottle every day, and now a Christmas present for the Doctor.

The present for Martha was mailed to the other woman's flat, as the presents for her family sent to their own homes. Martha was given a book. But not just any book. It was a physics book about the wormholes, and exotic matter, and bends in time and space. It might help her to understand the science was what was going on in space around the Doctor's ship every day.

Leo and Francine each got a fruit basket, a box of chocolates, and a letter from her explaining what she did, and explaining to them about the Doctor and everything he did for the world, and how he needed a companion, and Martha was just right for the task.

Evie hoped her letters would make sure that everything stayed smooth within the family, for awhile at least. Tish got a very nice necklace (which would have matched the style of dress that Tish had worn for the party, and Evie hoped that was an indication of her normal style), a letter thanking her for working with the Doctor, a large collection of expensive chocolates, and a warm scarf she had knitted when she was still stuck in bed.

_**XX**_

_**So…I'm REALLY sorry about the long delay. In my defense, life sort of happened. I had finals for my summer semester, and moving home for the end of the summer, and a really major art project for one of my classes (which I got a 94 on, if anyone was curious). But I'm back, and this chapter is pretty good if you ask me.**_

_**I had a bit of trouble writing it, because I wanted to show Martha and the Doctor with all greatness they deserve. I know a lot of people don't like Martha, but I think she's a really strong person, and once she's seen a bit of the universe and gone her own way she only gets better. But I tried to show her dependence on the Doctor at this point in her life, and the potential she has to be great all on her own. I'm not sure if I quite managed though…**_

_**The fish were a nod to my brilliant muse (who is currently missing, and has contributed to the slowness of this chapter), BiJane, who loves fish, and has at least one suggestion per chapter that is fish related.**_

_**Anyone who understands why it's a golden cocker spaniel named Penny gets MAJOR brownie points, and a mention in my author's note for the next chapter.**_

_**Please tell me what you all think about the latest chapter, and I'll be seeing you all again soon!**_


	12. Out of Time

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during Out of Time, Doctor Who should be sometime in Season 3 after The Lazarus Experiment, and The Sarah Jane adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

Everything was pretty calm. It was mid-December, and Christmas would be next week. Evie had already wrapped all her presents and was just waiting until she could hand out to ones to the Cardiff residents.

Evie was still officially banned from the hub, but when Tosh called in with some odd rift activity Jack drove them both into the hub to take a look. Evie took one glance at the chart and started up her computer to do some calculations on the location of the rift flare, and where whatever it was coming out would land.

It looked like it was either a plane from the 1950s, or an alien spacecraft from three million years in the future. But either way, it was going to come out just above a local airfield. Jack, Tosh, Gwen, and Owen went out to meet whichever it was while Evie and Ianto stayed in the hub to monitor everything. Owen gave Evie a strict speech about not leaving the hub, not touching anything in the weapons room, not messing with any alien tech, or really doing anything. She was essentially useless for the moment.

So Evie pulled out a box of tinsel from the storage room (where her box used to be stored when it was full of alien weapons) and started 'decking the halls.' Purple tinsel was strung up behind hers and Tosh's desks, and green was put around Gwen's. Owen got silver, and the autopsy bay got silver as well. Jack's office got fake greenery, and the kitchen got a dose of fake mistletoe. Evie was just trying to figure out where all these Christmas decorations might have come from (and stringing red tinsel around the watertower with varying success) when the cog door opened and the team came in trailing two women and a man who looked like they were straight out of the 1950s. In which case it looked like it had been a plane from the 1950s, not a spaceship from the future.

"I'm Evie!" Evie called across the hub abandoning the tinsel which immediately fell into the water and began to be washed away. When Evie had bounded across the hub to Owen's blatant disapproval and Jack's worried frown she realized that these people they brought it were right on the edge of being nervous wrecks. Jack saw it too.

"There's no need to be frightened," Jack told them looking at Evie who smiled gently telling the same message.

"Who are you exactly?" The man asked suspiciously. He was something middle-aged and not particularly handsome, but at the same time he wasn't repulsive or anything. But then, Evie was a bit spoiled in the lookers department wasn't she? After all she was living together with Jack, her best friend had been labeled (by herself no less) Mr. Hot-Jones at one point, and Owen was cute in a small bitter sort of way.

"The less you know about us, the better," Jack replied before stopping and looking at his team arrayed before him. Typically when they brought someone into the hub they made the whole show like they did with Gwen, or something similar. Rhys' introduction to the group was a once off, because he had already met large chunks of the group through Gwen.

"Meet the team," Jack said gesturing to everyone.

"As I already said, I'm Evie," Evie said with a grin and a little wave.

"Toshiko," Tosh said quickly. Evie was fairly sure it went right past these people, it wasn't a particularly common name for the 1950s, or now even, really.

"Gwen," Gwen said personably.

"Doctor Owen Harper," Owen said on the other side of the desk area, he was shrugging on his lab coat, although Evie didn't know why he would bother. It wasn't like he had much work to do.

"John Ellis," The middle-aged man from the past replied.

"Emma Louise Cowell," The younger of the two women offered. She looked like a naïve little thing, like she had never seen much of the world. Evie worried a little over her.

"Diane Holmes," The older of the two women introduced herself. She was perhaps thirty or so, several years older than Evie, but not old in any case.

"Please, follow me," Owen asked leading the three accidental time travelers down to the cold storage. It made a sort of sense; the autopsy bay was so stark, and small, but at the same time…Cold Storage? It was a rather depressing place.

"At least it wasn't a spaceship full of aliens," Gwen said alluding to Evie's calculations from earlier. Evie looked at the other woman for a long moment before she and Jack answered at the same time.

"That might have been easier," From Jack and "Alien's are easier" from Evie.

_**XX**_

The time travelers had been bundled into the conference room with the whole team, and they were all looking at each other a bit awkwardly. Jack and Owen had insisted that Evie take one of the chairs, despite the fact that she normally stood during these meetings, and her protestations were looked at with curiosity from the time travelers.

"But how can you travel fifty years in half an hour?" John was asking as Ianto bustled through the room fixing drinks. Evie had received hers first, a new tea that Ianto called 'white tea' that he had added some kind of fruit to. It was ridiculously good, and Evie had been addicted to it since she woke after the Lazarus incident.

"Your plane went through a transcendental portal, also called a wormhole, but we call it the Rift," Evie told them sipping her tea sedately.

"A what?" Emma asked looking at the team in confusion.

"A door in time and space," Jack clarified.

John did not seem happy with this explanation, "It's some kind of trick, it has to be."

"Tosh?" Jack asked looking to the small Japanese woman. She quickly gestured to a series of photos she had been laying out on the table.

"Celebrations of the Millennium in your respective home cities, photographs documenting the development of Cardiff Bay from the '50s to the present day, blueprints of modern day aeroplanes," Tosh said point to each set of papers and photos as she spoke of them. Emma took the seat next to Evie, and Evie passed a mug of black tea and the small platter with sugar, lemon, and cream over to the girl.

"But if all this is true ... then how do we get back?" Diane asked in alarm. Evie furrowed her brows trying to remember if there was anything they had in storage that could manipulate the Rift accurately, and risk-less enough to allow them to return to their own time. But there was nothing.

"You don't. According to history, your plane never returned. I'm sorry," Jack told them, and Evie could have hit herself. She wouldn't have thought to look at how history recorded the event. But then…if time travel is possible (and it obviously is if the Doctor is off zooming through time), then events can't be set in stone. Or all of them can't be. Some things have to be in flux, or the universe would crack from the strain of trying to deal with all the changes the Doctor and any time travelling enemies attempt on the universe. If things weren't in flux…then there wouldn't be a universe left at all.

"What's going to happen to us?" Diane asked worriedly. Before any of the team could think of a suitable answer John burst into the conversation.

"Never mind about us. What happened to everyone else? Our families," John asked looking around at the group. Evie smiled up at him twisting in her seat to see the man.

"We can look things up in the archives, we have access to just about all of them," Evie offered calmly.

_**XX**_

"Okay, so this says that your father died in 1959. He was 48. I'm sorry for your loss," Evie told Emma a little while later as the two of them sat on the couch behind Evie's desk. Jack, John, and Tosh were gathered around Tosh's computer, so it would really have been too much for Evie and Emma to be over there too.

"Dad said he'd die young. All the men in the munitions factory did," Emma said sounding lost. Evie touched Emma's hand gently and gave the younger girl a soft, sad smile.

"Your mam lived till she was 81 though. That's a nice old life," Evie told her and seeing the broken look in Emma's eyes pulled her into a one-armed hug, "Who would have spent all those years with your mam? Did you have other family? I had a brother you know. He fell through the rift like you, but he ended up in the late 1940s, he's dead now."

"I'm sorry," Emma said in a voice little more than a whisper, "I don't have any other family though."

"Friends then?" Evie asked looking over at her, "Or a boyfriend. Bet you didn't realize, but Jack and I are together."

"Really?" Emma said perking up for a moment.

"Yeah," Evie said with a grin, "We live together too. We didn't used to, but he somehow ended up moving into my old flat, and we just recently got a new place that's the two of ours together. We have fish, and a dog named Penny. Penny's the sweetest thing too, I was sick recently. Very sick, I couldn't get out of bed, I've only recently been allowed out of our building, Penny kept me company when Jack had to be here."

"I'd like to meet her," Emma said quietly.

"I'll make sure you do," Evie told her, "Somewhere in the hub is Moses though. He's an old cat, belonged to an ex-girlfriend of Jack's, when she died I took the cat in. He lives here, he doesn't like the outdoors much anymore."

"Can we find him?" Emma asked obviously trying to distract herself from the reality of the situation.

"Of course," Evie replied helping Emma up, "He'll probably be hiding in Jack's office upstairs."

_**XX**_

Tosh arranged for the three time travelers to stay at a local hostel. Diane and Emma got a room to themselves, and John got his own. There were only a couple of girls somewhere in their mid- to late-teens, and it was assumed that Emma would probably be able to get on with them. Emma was only about twenty after all, and the only barrier is two different time periods. Granted, that was a pretty big barrier.(The building door opens. Gwen and Jack enter. Diane, Emma and John follow. They each carry their suitcase and look very grim.)

"It's a little basic," Evie commented when she led Diane and Emma up to their room. It was pretty simple. There was a closet, a set of bunk beds, a single bed, and a night stand, and that was it for the room. There was a dated, but not particularly ugly wallpaper for the walls, and the door and windowsill were both a vague non-offending off-white.

"Not when you've slept in barracks," Diane said setting her bag on the lower bunk bed while Emma placed her own bag on the single bed. Diane took off her jacket and left the room, saying something vague about bathrooms. No doubt she went looking for the bathroom.

Emma started unpacking immediately, but when Evie offered to help she was told to sit down, and rest.

"I'm really not sick anymore," Evie protested, but she sat down anyway.

"Yes, but you seem the type of person who would get out of bed three days before they were better and try to go about normally only to collapse three days later and be bedridden for another two weeks," Emma said pulling a dress from her suitcase. Knowing Emma had hit the nail on the head perfectly Evie changed the subject.

"I like that dress," Evie said with a grin, "The fifties style has actually come back into style a bit. You'll probably be able to find things just like you had at home. Although, I don't think I've seen one exactly like that one before."

"Thank you. I made it myself," Emma said answering the unspoken question of where she had gotten it.

"That's quite skillful," Evie said with a smile, "I'd undoubtedly cause myself permanent injury if I even tried to sew something like that. It's lovely though."

"I'm sure you could be taught," Emma said laughing as she hung the dress in the closet.

"No, I don't think so," Evie replied with a laugh, "Where do you come from? I was actually born not far from Cardiff, but I grew up just outside of London. A little town only about fifteen minutes from the city. Very nice place."

"Bristol," Emma replied looking at the older woman.

"You should teach me how to do my hair like that," Evie commented cocking her head to one side. Emma paused for a long moment in confusion before laughing at the absurdity.

"It's pretty easy," Emma finally said in a much better mood than she had been earlier, "I'll have to get some pins and such to do up your hair, and yours is a bit finer than mine, but I'm sure we can do it."

"You should come visit me tonight, or maybe tomorrow, and we can do each other's hair, and share a bed, and kick Jack onto the sofa!" Evie said excitedly pulling another dress from the bag and bounding across the room to hang it up.

"Why will Jack sleep on the sofa?" Emma asked stunned at the energy in this woman. Maybe she wasn't sick anymore after all.

"Because he went and bought a giant fish tank and put it right in the middle of my living room. He's already had to move it, but I sort of feel like punishing him a bit more, don't you?" Evie said looking over at the other girl.

"I don't think I have any reason to punish the poor man," Emma replied with another laugh.

"Well, no, I suppose you don't," Evie said sounding truly sorry for this fact. Then she paused for a moment and grew more serious, "I really do love him you know? He loves me too, or at least he said he did, but…" Evie trailed off thinking of how to phrase what she wanted to say, "Jack doesn't believe in labels. He won't call me his girlfriend, he flinches when I call him my boyfriend, he hates the word 'love' and if anyone tried to call him straight, or bisexual, or gay…well he'd just laugh at them.

"I went to London a few weeks ago, to look into something suspicious. It was there that I was attacked by a monster, and although it didn't managed to kill me, I was unconscious for a week and very week for another week after that. When I first woke up Jack came running to my side, skidding on the wood floors like an over-excited puppy. I promised I would never leave him, and I told him I loved him, and he replied in kind but…I think he might have just been caught up in the moment." Evie looked to the other woman, "Do you think he really loves me?"

"I…I've never been in love. I don't know what it feels like, but…I think, maybe, he does,' Emma replied slowly, and uncertainly, "He keeps worrying over you, like he thinks you're a delicate flower, and he looks at you with such longing when you aren't looking…You look at him the same way, you know? I think whatever you feel for him is mutual."

"Really?" Evie asked her face lighting up. Emma nodded and Evie swept her up into a spirited dance across the little room and within moments they were both giggling helplessly. When Evie finally had to leave Emma stayed, because she said she didn't want to leave Diane all by herself in the room.

_**XX**_

"I would like to say right now that I said this was a very bad idea, and Jack vetoed me," Evie announced the next day as the three time travellers, Jack, and Evie were gathered in Jack's office to deal with starting to integrate Diane, Emma, and John into modern society.

"What does that mean?" Emma asked worriedly. She was much more animated today than the day before. Everyone attributed it to Evie's infectious personality.

"Just listen to the bumbling idiot over here," Evie said nodding at Jack. Jack gave Evie a look before turning back to their guests.

"These will be your means of identification. We've set up bank accounts for you but we'll give you an allowance so you can practice with the currency and money management," Jack said handing out the new papers because Evie refused to touch them. John certainly looked unhappy about the whole deal. Emma didn't seem to have a problem with it though, if anything she seemed excited.

"David Ward," John read off of his papers looking sour.

"Sally-Anne Hope," Diane said with a look on her face that said she was seconds from going for the cigarettes. Evie didn't blame her, she wouldn't be taking on a fake name anytime soon, and if Jack suggested it she would slap the silly man. Of course…if he suggested she change her last name…well, that's a different story altogether, and looked to be nowhere in the near future.

"Deborah Morrison, and it's spelt how Deborah Kerr spells it," Emma looked more excited about the last bit than anything else. Evie found herself smiling at Emma's enthusiasm. Of course, as soon as Jack started talking, her smile fell right off her face.

"Your background stories should incorporate your skills you already have. John, you could have run a corner shop," Jack said looking to John, who if anything seemed more angry about the whole thing.

"No," John said snapping the passport in his hand shut and looking at Jack.

"We can fake references," Jack started but Evie slapped her hand over Jack's mouth (which grantedly took a bit of reaching).

"Shut up," Evie said exasperatedly as she shook her name, "I told you. These people have been tossed into another time period that they know nothing about, and you want them to give up what little connections they have left to their pasts? Let them keep their own names. No one is going to link them to the people who disappeared over fifty years ago."

Evie didn't move her hand until Jack started saying something and nodding his head.

"You're right. I didn't think. They should keep their names," Jack said looking at John as he said this.

"You can consider yourself on the couch again tonight though," Evie told him before leading Emma from the room. Before they had even left the office the two women were giggling about something. Watching them Jack and John both shuddered as if the room had suddenly grown cold. An angry woman with her girlfriends was a scary thing after all.

_**XX**_

It was decided (by Evie) that Evie would join Ianto when he took the three time travelers to the super-market later that same day. Jack had protested that Evie should spend more time sitting down, or take a nap. Evie had thrown a pillow at him and told him to take a nap. Jack shut up after that.

"I'd suggest you use £25 for your food and then £20 for luxuries like cigarettes, magazines," Ianto told the three time travelers as they walked from the SUV to the front door. Evie had at some point changed her shoes to what she called 'casual shopping' shoes. Which were a pair of flats that were okay for a little while, but started to pinch if you walked in them for more than an hour and a half.

"My dad only made £10 a week!" Emma said in shock. Evie looked over at Emma with a smile as Ianto responded.

"Things are a lot more expensive now," was Ianto's response, but Evie felt the need to add to it.

"It's called inflation, so if anyone is talking about inflation act as though you hate it," Evie told Emma quietly, "Everyone hates inflation, and it's really amusing sometimes the lengths people go to about it." Louder Evie said, "So people get more money, like me, I make…what is it Ianto? 1900, 2,000? Yeah, £2,000 a week."

"£2,000 a week?" Diane asked in a shocked tone of her own.

"High risk job," Ianto replied, "My job with Torchwood is lower risk, I only get £1600 a week. There's still a decent amount of risk, but I'm not on the field like Evie."

"A woman on the frontlines?" John asked sounding affronted.

"If it makes you feel any better I did volunteer," Evie told him with a grin, "I was hired for my brains, and it turned out I could make my colleagues cringe at the threat of violence, and I keep my head in strange situations. I got hired for that too actually. Besides, I don't kill anyone. Anymore."

"Wait. When did this happen?" Ianto asked pausing in the middle of the sidewalk.

"After the Brecon Beacons. I couldn't let it happen again, so I don't carry a gun anymore. Didn't you notice?" Evie asked looking straight at him.

"I guess there was so much going on, I never noticed," Ianto admitted.

"Some best friend you are," Evie said with a grin before grabbing up Emma's arm and leading her for the door.

Diane reached the door first though and had to stop in stunned amazement when it slid open for her.

"How did it do that?" Diane asked and Evie let Ianto field the question. Wasn't her area of expertise, and Ianto supposedly knows everything…

"It's automatic. It knows you're there," Ianto replied waiting for Diane to try the door again.

"But how?" Diane asked taking another step forward, as the door was closing and made it open back. Which wasn't particularly good for the door, but since Evie wasn't paying for it she didn't mind much.

"There are wave bouncing detectors which emit radio waves and then look for reflections..." Ianto started to explain only to be interrupted.

"Bananas!" Diane cried eagerly running into the shop, all thoughts of magically opening doors were abandoned.

"Of course, bananas are far more interesting," Ianto lamented quietly. Evie patted his arm gently and smiled at him.

"Most things are," Evie said with a wink and followed Emma into the store. If Evie had turned she would have seen Ianto shaking his head as John headed in as well, leaving him standing awkwardly in front of the door, which was closing.

"Right, so I should probably be the responsible adult and tell you to get any necessities first, but there's absolutely no fun in that!" Evie said catching up with Emma and looping her arm through the younger woman's.

"So, what do you think we should get first?" Emma asked laughing at Evie's enthusiasm.

"Well, if it was me, I'd go straight for the books," At Emma's incredulous look Evie laughed and continued, "As you are not me, I say, clothes, shoes, movies, or candy."

"Candy," Emma replied, "It's right over here."

"Candy it is then!" Evie said skipping, and forcing Emma to follow suit, as their arms were still linked.

"Evie!" Emma cried indignantly pulling herself from the older woman's grip.

"Sorry, I haven't had a chance to act like a stupid teenager in years," Evie admitted slowing to a normal sedate walking pace, "With Jack I have to be the adult, and Tosh and Ianto are to serious, and I _never_ hang around with Gwen or Owen without someone else. And before Torchwood I was a depressed mess (for two whole years) and before that I was so wrapped up in my studies I forgot to live. I wasted away my latter teenage years, and—" Emma cut Evie off before she could continue her spiel.

"I don't mind much," Emma told her, "My girlfriends and I used to be like this, but then Mary went and got married, and Mum was looking for a boy for me, officially it was my decision. But Mum had a list of 'proper' men. I haven't been a teenager in years either. Even though I'm only twenty."

In that moment Evie and Emma understood each other perfectly. Their lives had mirror-like qualities, and Evie caught herself wondering if they were perfect mirrors, because if they were something huge had already happened in her life. Something which changes everything. Maybe it explains everything, too.

_**XX**_

Late the next night Evie got a tearful call from Emma. Evie didn't understand everything, but there was something about John, and not her dad, and carol singing, and maybe something about shoes. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but it was certainly distressing to Emma. So Evie took the SUV keys and drove down there. For once she didn't get stopped, and she made it to the hostel within fifteen minutes.

"So, what's going on?" Evie asked walking into the hostel to find John resolutely in the kitchen cooking something, and Emma was in the living room with two teenage girls (presumably the ones that were staying in the hostel).

"She was drunk and making a spectacle of herself," John grumbled rather nastily.

"I don't blame her," Evie said putting a hand on her hip. It was clear to her just who had messed everything up tonight, "If I was drunk I'd be making a spectacle of myself too. It's just no fun if you just get weepy and cry over everything."

"She shouldn't be drinking like that!" John cried turning to Evie.

"Why not?" Evie asked, "Because she's a girl? Because she's eighteen? Because you fancy yourself above drinking in a bad situation? Whatever your reasons you can't inflict them on Emma. In her place I would be far worse gone than she is. And that's saying something considering I can make you any kind of alcoholic beverage you ask for and I don't drink a drop of it."

"wha—but—" John sputtered angrily looking from Evie's face to the hiccupping girl in the other room.

"Come on Emma," Evie said turning from John, "You can stay the night at my flat. Jack's allowed in bed tonight, but I can kick him out, or you can sleep on the pullout couch. It's pretty new, and I never told Jack that it pulls out, so it hasn't been slept on."

Emma seemed a little more cheerful at this so while she went upstairs to get her things Evie turned back to John.

"Just so you know, I understand that you're having a time of all this. But you can't take it out on Emma. She needs to deal with the situation her way, and you getting mad at her isn't going to do anything in the long run," Evie told him, "I'll get Jack to come down and talk if you need someone. I can't understand having a family and not seeing them. But Jack has at least one daughter, who says she hates him. I know she doesn't, but it hurts him all the same not to see his grandson. I'm fairly certain he has a couple of other kids, but they live out of the country, I've never met them. And that hurts me. I know they exist, and I want to get to know them, but I can't because Jack won't let me. I know your situation's different, but…I can't help but feel there's something similar there. I'm going to help Emma, and then we'll leave. I'll see you…soon-ish."

With that Evie left the room and made her way upstairs to find Emma hugging a teddy bear from her suitcase.

"That was for your nephew, or your niece right?" Evie asked pulling Emma's dresses out of the closet, since it didn't look like Emma was in any state to do it for herself.

"My niece," Emma whispered, barely loud enough for Evie to hear her, "She was two when I left. How old is she now?" With the last words she turned to Evie with a pleading look in her eyes.

"In her late fifties," Evie told her quietly, "She's probably still alive, very likely she had children and grandchildren of her own. Actually her children would be just a bit older than me, most likely."

"Why did this happen?" Emma asked breathily.

"I don't know," Evie said softly as she packed the dresses into Emma's case, "I don't think there's reasons for everything. Some things are fate, and others coincidence. I think this one was a coincidence, with a tiny touch of fate. The rift was there, and you were there, and it was coincidence that you went through, it was a bit of fate that you came to this time and place, because even though Torchwood's been here a long time, they weren't always like us. They used to do horrible things, they didn't have morals at all really. We understand people. Or we try to. Jack calls me his conscience, and Gwen is his humanity. Tosh is the mind, and Ianto is order, Jack leads us, and Owen makes us all laugh and take ourselves a little less seriously. I don't think any of us could function without the others anymore."

"Can I stay?" Emma asked suddenly.

"As long as you need to," Evie told her with a soft smile, "Just remember that you'll need to get your own place eventually. I can't leave Jack on the couch forever. And you can't sleep on our couch forever either. But you've certainly got at least till after the new year to worry about it."

"No, I meant can I stay with Torchwood," Emma replied.

"I don't know," Evie replied straightening, "I suppose we can ask Jack in the morning, or when we get to the flat if he's still up. But what will you do? Didn't you say yesterday you like fashion? There's no fashion at Torchwood. We have a lot of guns, but no fashion. Well, Jack's is okay, if outdated, but just try getting him to change! And I have decent tastes, I think, and Tosh is usually nice. But Gwen and Owen just wear whatever and Ianto _always_ wears a suit…"

"I could do paperwork, and get paid for it. Then when I have enough I can start my own fashion line. I'm very organized I promise!" Emma offered eagerly.

"Let's talk with Jack, see what he says. Very likely we're going to have to talk with Ianto too, because he does most of the paperwork now. See if he needs a hand. If he does he could go out in the field more often, take a bit of pressure off all of us…It might be a very good idea. And if we hire more people the Queen will give us more money to pay them, and if you get the same wage as Ianto, and we boost Ianto's wages a little…" Evie kept muttering out plans even as Emma finished her packing and the two women made their way down to the SUV.

Evie was so distracted that she didn't speed, and once again she didn't get a ticket all the way to her flat. Evie had finally stopped muttering, but she was still going over things in her head. This could be exactly what they needed, and if Emma wanted to do this, then there was no reason not to go through with all this.

"Jack?" Evie called quietly as she set the keys back on the little table next to the door that was there just for that reason. There was a quiet grunting noise from further into the flat. Apparently he was awake and not happy about that fact. Evie led Emma in and sat her down at the table and put some water into the kettle and putting it on the stove before going deeper into the flat to the bedroom she shared with Jack to find him.

As Evie had expected Jack was tangled in the sheets and looking blearily up at her. No matter how many times Evie had found the man in this, or a similar, situation, she always thought he was amazingly cute like that.

"Jack? Hey," Evie said sitting on the edge of the bed, so Jack didn't have to strain his head quite so much, "Emma's staying over for a couple of days. Are you awake enough to come talk, or do we need to leave it off for tomorrow?"

"Tonight," Jack said sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Evie smiled and kissed his softly before getting up and going back to the dining room where Emma was still sitting slightly uncomfortable looking.

"At least I have taste in decorations right?" Evie asked heading back into the kitchen to fix a couple of mugs with tea bags.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked still looking around the room curiously.

"I mean, Owen's apartment is all big glass windows and white fabric, and shiny metal. It gets on my nerves," Evie replied, "Tosh is better, but she has a bit too much fancy woodwork for me, Gwen's place is obnoxious with different colors on every wall. It's cool for an hour or two, then it just starts to get on your nerves. Ianto's place is pretty nice. But he goes in for a long of earthy tones and very simple designs. It suits him, but it's not quite right for me or Jack. Jack's old place was military precision in furniture, and the laundry was just thrown wherever he felt like putting it. Here we have some simple furnishings, and some decorative ones, bright walls, and basic furniture, with a little clutter, mostly books, but neat and orderly for the most part. Lots of little retro pieces, I repainted a bunch of them, so I had the design I liked, but not the bright colors. I don't know, I just like it here. Isn't it homey?"

"It is nice," Emma admitted finally standing up and joining Evie in the kitchen, "It reminds me a little of my mom's taste, but everything was a bit duller in color, and we had wallpaper."

"Well, that was pretty typical for the fifties," Evie admitted, "I don't like wallpaper. There are some okay ones, but for the most part it's more trouble than it's worth, and there are too many ugly patterns to deal with. More trouble than it's worth."

"I suppose," Emma said quietly. Just then the kettle squealed and Evie took it off the stove pouring the hot water over teabags in all three mugs. Evie got a fruity white tea, Emma got a simple black tea, and Jack got a soothing chamomile, since Evie woke him.

The two women sat at the table sipping their tea for a little while in silence while they waited for Jack. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, just an enduring one. Eventually Jack joined them. Why he had taken so long was a mystery to both women because when he came in he was only wearing a pair of sleep pants (which was more than when Evie had walked in earlier), and he hadn't even bothered to find his slippers (which were right next to the door, and shouldn't have been hard to find.

"So, nice to see you Emma," Jack said sitting down hard in his chair. And it was his chair. He went out and bought the thing, and it didn't even come close to matching the four chairs that had come with the table, which Evie had picked out.

"Nice you see you as well," Emma replied, and Evie got the distinct impression she didn't know what to call Jack. Evie had been there. It was always a brief, but heated battle between an appropriate title and the person's last name, an appropriate title and the person's first name, or just their first name. Then there was that slightly hostile middle ground with just a person's last name…Too many options.

"So you'll be staying a few days?" Jack asked after an awkward silence.

"Yes, Emma and John had a disagreement and I offered to let her stay here," Evie replied, "And Emma had an interesting proposition."

"Now I'm worried," Jack said and looked to Emma with a wink, "When Evie thinks it's interesting the rest of us should all be worried."

"I've already spoken to you on a similar matter. That's why Andy Davis will be joining the team in the new year. Emma asked if she could stay with Torchwood for a while. Administrative duties, paperwork, and filing. We could easily open up the office between the main floor and the archives, give Ianto one of those, and let Emma work in the Tourist Office. Then we can knock out the wall between –" That's where Jack cut her off.

"Knock down a wall? Why are we knocking down walls?" Jack asked sounding a bit helpless.

"Well, I like how we all work together and everything, so I figured if we knocked out a few walls so we have a larger space we can still all have our own desks, and Tosh and I can have enough room to move," Evie explained with a smile. If that was Jack's objection Emma had the job.

"Yes, but _how_ are we going to knock down walls. We are a top secret organization based pretty far underground," Jack protested, "We'd have to hire construction workers, and that will be a mess because we'd have to retcon them when they were done."

"Yes, or we could ask UNIT for help," Evie reminded him.

"I hate UNIT,"

"Yes, that's why _I_ will be talking to UNIT while you talk to the queen about hiring two more people, and expanding the hub to get us a little boost of money," Evie replied with a grin.

"Yeah, I guess," Jack gave in quietly and Emma started laughing. Jack and Evie both jerked to look over at her. They had forgotten she was there. Which wasn't a good thing because Evie was about to try to seduce Jack into a bit of fun before they went to sleep. Which could have been very embarrassing.

But after a moment all three were laughing, and it was sure that they would have a great time for the next couple of days, while they were all living together.

_**XX**_

The next day Tosh passed on the news that she had found John's son, Alan, as Evie started to help Ianto and Emma shuffle duties to even out between the two. Ianto really had been working too hard, and a lot of the paperwork, and older filing had been shunted to the wayside, so Emma was to file all new paperwork as it came in, and make sure it was all done correctly, while Ianto went back through older files and redid a lot of the paperwork, which was done shoddily for years before he joined the team.

Jack took John to the nursing home, and Evie couldn't help but think this was all going to turn out badly. Jack was weird all day, and not even Evie could get him out of his funk. At one point he was drinking while looking at pictures they took of the three time travelers for their new identification, and made a comment about how there were no monsters to fight, and no puzzles to solve, just three lost people who had become their responsibility.

Evie agreed that it was different and hard, but at the same time…wasn't this better? No threat of death, or brutal injury, and they would all be fine in the end. Emma was settling in, John and Diane would eventually find a way to be happy, and they could live their lives. So, wasn't this better than fighting monsters and solving puzzles?

But then…when you're fighting monsters it's kill or be killed, your priorities are set out from the beginning. When it's solving puzzles it's solve it or something incredibly horrible will happen to yourself, someone you know (and are thus solving the puzzle for) or the world in general. Here it was all muddled. Are you helping these people because it's your duty, or because you truly care for them, and if they called you up years later, would you care? Would it be like hearing from an old friend, or would it be a nuisance you wish you didn't have to deal with?

That night Evie and Emma took over the flat and had a girly night, with popcorn, movies, obscene amounts of chocolate, doing each other hair and nails, and anything else they could think up. Tosh joined them for a while, but Diane and Gwen both skipped out. Gwen said she was doing something with Rhys, and Diane didn't give an excuse, but the pointed look in Owen's direction spoke volumes. So Evie let them off the hook to be with their men. Tosh got an extra helping of ice cream and chocolate, because…well, because Diane's excuse was the man Tosh had been in love with as long as Evie had known the two.

It was fun, and they slept in the living room, and Jack stayed in the hub. Evie laughed at his expression when she suggested it. He had completely forgotten that there was a hidden bedroom under his office, that he could sleep in when he was in trouble with Evie. Of course, he said something about wanting to be in the same place as Evie which made Evie blush (rather uncharacteristically), and stutter a bit before running off with the girls.

_**XX**_

"Hey, want to help me set up the tree?" Evie asked late in the morning the next day as she pulled things out of bags and boxes strewn across the living room. It was a sight. There were ornaments on every surface, and a bowl of popcorn and string and needles, piles of tinsel and mountains of greenery. Quite frankly it looked like the Christmas Fairy had come by and thrown up. Hopefully it wouldn't be that bad once Evie got everything settled.

"Sure," Emma replied looking over the room a bit hesitantly, "Where do we start?"

"Probably with the stuff that doesn't go on the tree," Evie said looking over the mess she had made of her living room, only to notice that there was even a bauble that had fallen into the fish tank.

"Which is that?"

"All the greenery, and most of the tinsel," Evie replied trying to see if there was a way to get up from her nest in the middle of the room, "I want to try and have this done by around eight tonight, that's when Jack usually gets home. When I'm working I get in around then, but everyone said to take the day off with you, so here we are."

"Where's the greenery?" Emma asked moving some tinsel only to find Penny. Emma shrieked briefly in surprise, and Penny gave a little whine at the noise. Then Evie and Emma were laughing over themselves and Penny, who burrowed once more into the tinsel.

The two women spent the day putting up greenery, and tinsel, and ornaments on the tree. They made a popcorn string, but made sure it didn't go low enough for Penny to get a hold of it. Some with the cinnamon smelling ornaments, they were all placed high in the tree (a real one at Emma's insistence). Then when the room had been cleaned of bags and boxes, all the ornaments on the tree, and the tinsel and greenery scattered through the apartment Emma and Evie retreated to the kitchen.

They baked gingerbread men, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies. They made chocolate covered pretzels, potato crisps, dried apricots, and crackers. They made a dinner of two whole roasted lemon chickens and some onion and mushroom rice, and generally made a mess of the kitchen.

While the chicken was finishing they cleaned the kitchen, and in the middle of all this was when Jack came home. They knew the exact moment he came home, because upon opening the door he paused and yelled, "Who are you people and what have you done to the flat?"

"We decorated," Evie said prancing out of the kitchen, "And we baked, and generally made nuisances of ourselves. However we have a lot of little goodies to give to the team, and Alice, and Steven, and Cathy, and Eugene, and probably Andy too, he deserves some since he's about to walk into this mess."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jack asked with a grin and touching his hand to her forehead, like he was checking for a temperature.

"Jerk!" Evie yelled with a grin before running back to the kitchen where Emma was laughing at the two of them.

_**XX**_

Much later that night, around twelve, Jack got a call from a rather panicked Ianto. Something about the keys to Ianto's car being gone (Ianto had gone out and bought himself a new car, instead of a new flat like Evie which his influx of cash).

"I need to check the GPS for Ianto's car," Jack said as soon as he got off the phone. Evie rolled over and looked at him.

"My laptop is in my bag next to the door. It has all the Torchwood software installed on it. You should be able to find it from there," Evie told him before rolling back over and dozing off as Jack looked it up.

"He's gone home," Jack finally murmured before kissing Evie on the cheek and getting out of bed and getting dressed.

It took Evie a long time to fall asleep again, and when she did it was fitful. For the first time since she and Jack had moved in together she had a real nightmare.

_Everything was burning. The landscape that was usually red and orange and full of life and beauty, was now full of fire and scorch marks. It was a desolate, and depressing place. The city in the distance looked to be on the edge of collapse, and the little house behind her was untouched by the devastation._

_Why? Why would he do this. She trusted him _so_ much, and he rained destruction down on their home. He had lived near here once. He loved the grove of tree, and the silver leaves, the way they tinkled slightly in the wing. Like chimes._

_But the trees had burnt now, and the little living metal leaves were piles of burnt and molten goo, which was no good at all. _

_There was screaming in the distance._

_Things had been going downhill for a long time, but now was the final straw._

_She turned and went back into the house. Everything was packed, not a single thing showed that she had lived here for the last fifty years. One last box on the floor, and a door sitting in the middle of the room. She picked up the box opened the door and –_

Evie shot up in shock.

It was morning. Christmas morning, and the dream she had was so very unsettling. It was as if she had been there, in the middle of the burning landscape. She was leaving though. Through that door was something important. Something, very, very important. But she couldn't recall what.

She had seen something in the corner of her eye as she opened the door, but she couldn't remember now what it was. It big-ish. Big for the scale of the room at least. It hadn't been a big room, in fact it was rather small considering the size of the house itself. It had been huge.

Whatever had been in the corner of her eye was…different from the landscape, the colors didn't work. The reds and oranges of the landscape that she remember in her dream didn't go with the thing in the corner of her eye. No, whatever was in the corner of her eye was…blue?

_**XX**_

Emma and Evie opened presents from each other in the living room that day, while waiting for Jack to return. Emma had snuck off at some point, and she bought Evie a movie she had been staring at in the shop the other day. Evie had never intended to buy it, she just remembered that it was her older brother's favorite, and she was reminiscing about the old days before University, and Eddie disappearing, and their mam dying, and joining Torchwood, and Aethelred changing his name to Eddie…They had been good days. They had also been innocent and naïve days. And Evie knew she could never return to them.

Evie bought Emma several musicals, most of them more recent, so Emma wouldn't have seen them before. She also bought her a nice pair of very comfortable heels that she could wear to work. They had a slight 50s mod kind of style to them, but mostly they were just really cute. And pink. Emma wore a lot of pink, so pink heels to match made sense.

It was hours later that Tosh phoned in that she found Owen in an alcohol/emotional stupor, and she was taking care of him, but she doubted he'd be in any shape to work for the next couple of days. It was soon after that Evie got a call from Ianto asking if Jack had returned, upon hearing a negative he confided that the rift had opened briefly early in the morning, and the Sky Gypsy had been reported missing by the owner of the airfield where Torchwood had parked it. It looked like Diane had flown right into it. No wonder Owen was a mess.

Jack stumbled into the apartment looking a mess in the early evening. He didn't even seem to realize the time, collapsed into Evie's arms completely limp. He was alive, but the way he looked it wouldn't have surprised Evie to find he had died again. But it did look like he had died recently. Evie's suspicions were proven when Jack passed out a few minutes later. He slept for twenty hours straight.

When Jack finally woke it turned out that John had committed suicide, and Jack had stayed with him the whole night, and most of the morning. He had already arranged to have John buried in the same cemetery as his wife. In the plot right next to her, and arrangements had been made with Alan's nursing home that when he died he should be buried with his parents, as his wife had been cremated. Jack added that the urn should be buried with Alan's body.

The Torchwood team minus Owen went to the funeral the next day. Emma and Rhys joined the group, and they were the only people to go. It was just a graveside service, and not a full mass or anything, but it was sad that they were the only people who could gather to mourn the man. Gifts were quietly passed around afterwards, but no one was in a particularly cheerful mood. They had been trusted with these three people, and one of them was dead, and another lost forever.

_**XX**_

In the last week of December Emma was slowly brought into the fold. She went shopping for her own apartment, and decided on a cheap one in the same building as Ianto. She said she wanted to save as much money as she could to one day start her own fashion line.

The apartment was quickly filled with cheap, but functional furniture from thrift stores and bargain stores. Then Emma went and splurged on a drafting desk and plenty of good paper, nice quality pencils (regular graphite and colored pencils), inking pens of various thicknesses, a dress dummy, and a sewing machine. She said she'd buy fabric, pins, a measuring tape, a pin cushion, a dress marking pen, and all the thread she'd need with her next paycheck. Altogether she barely had enough for food, rent, and utilities for the month. The saving would have to be done with the next paycheck.

It wasn't until New Year's Eve that Evie had a chance to give Jack his present. It took that long to get everything back to normal. All the Christmas decorations had been lovingly packed away for the next year, and the tree had been taken to a landfill. The flat seemed empty without it all, but Jack and Evie were neither ever for leaving decorations up long after the holiday was over.

Evie's gift to Jack was simple. She had created a frame, a really, really big frame, which could hold a _lot_ of pictures, and Evie went about collecting photos of all the people that Jack had spoken of fondly. She had even managed to find a slightly out of date photo of Rose Tyler, who Jack had been so devastated to hear of her death, and a chance taken photo of the Doctor's regeneration that Jack had travelled with. There were photos of the whole team, of Alice and Steven, even a few of Jack's old lovers (One who died in a car crash, Estelle, and another who had died working for Torchwood).

It made Jack cry. It was then put up on the wall beside he giant aquarium, where he could see it every day.

From Jack, Evie received something she never expected. It was a ring, but not an engagement ring. It was a promise ring. The scene was rather sappy, like something out of an old romance movie. Jack put the ring on her right ring finger, and asked her to wear it always, because with it he was promising to be faithful to _only_ her. In fact, he called the ring 'his heart' and in giving it, he was giving Evie his heart.

Evie cried too. Then she promised to wear it always, and never lose it. If she had to take it off for something, she swore she would string it on the chain of her locket, and wear them together. The familial love of her brother next to the romantic love on the one man Evie had ever truly loved. There was a certain poetic symmetry to the situation.

_**XX**_

_**So…Everyone know what the scene from the dream was? Even if you don't I'm not going to say it straight out, because I think I've added up the clues well enough…Well, anyway that dream sequence was my way of revealing Evie's secret, without revealing it. The official reveal will be at the beginning of Season 2, after Jack returns from his foray with the Doctor.**_

_**The scene with the ring kind of wrote itself…I didn't originally plan it, but I needed the two of them to exchange gifts, and I needed them to be meaningful. So Jack got a frame with pictures of all the people who had played a major role in his life (of course, Gray and his parents are missing, because they haven't been born yet, and Evie DOES know about them, don't worry, he isn't hiding things), and Evie got a ring which made Jack's feelings for her concrete. I think she sort of needed it, she's had so many doubts that something like this would finally convince her that they feel exactly the same for each other. I thought about making it an engagement ring, but Jack isn't really the commitment type, so even something like this was a huge step for him. I think it fits though.**_

_**So, how does everyone feel about my change with Emma? I didn't change Diane's fate, because I didn't see Evie getting involved with her, and I needed Owen to be in that mindset, because all the things with Bilis Manger needs to happen, and it won't work with a normal, if snarky Owen, it really needs a depressed on the verge of suicidal Owen. My reasoning for not changing John's fate is because I couldn't see his fate changing really. John was so set on the idea that everything was lost, and Jack (who could relate) couldn't change him. Evie's presence wasn't going to make a big difference. However, I do think that it changed the conversation between Jack and John before John kills himself, because Jack says "It's just bearable. It has to be. I don't have a choice" in the episode. But Jack in my story probably would have said something like "It's just bearable. Evie helps, but I have to get through it on my own. We need people. I need Evie and you…I suppose you need the people you've lost."**_

_**I'm thinking about posting a series of scenes throughout the story that Evie wasn't present for, but take place in the same AU. How say you all on this idea? It will include conversations like the one above, and longer more complex scenes, some emotional (mostly emotional), some humorous, some that I find ironic because I know how it all turns out.**_

_**Well, tell me what you all think of this chapter and the story in general!**_

_**Also, thank you dwatlaskrhtcm, you understood Penny right away! So brownie points to you!**_


	13. Domestic

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is between Out of Time and Captain Jack Harkness (taking up the space that Combat happens during), Doctor Who should be sometime in Season 3 after The Lazarus Experiment, and The Sarah Jane adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

New Year's Eve they had a big bash in the hub. The whole team (even Owen who was already drunk by the time he arrived, and passed out not long after) showed, and they were joined by Andy, who would start training on the second. Rhys was invited, and on Evie's insistence so were Eugene and Cathy. The latter two were both suitably impressed with the place, and Cathy made a remark about all of that being under the Plass this whole time.

First the first time in anyone's memory, Evie got drunk. Not just a little tipsy (which Jack had seen happen exactly once), but dancing on tables, making out with assorted people, laughing at things that aren't funny, slurring words drunk. Evie remembered very little about that night, and Jack made sure not to wake her the next morning as he went on his way to the hub.

When Evie finally got up, it was already midafternoon, and her head was killing her. She downed a couple of ibuprofen drank something like ten mugs of tea, and ordered Chinese. By the time Jack came home she was something resembling normal, but all the same she was curled up on the couch with Penny, watching the movie Emma had given her, and munching on popcorn.

Jack joined her, and they had a quiet night in. Jack went out at one point and came back with sub from a local sub shop, and they ate those and crisps, and had a couple of Cokes for dinner. They ended up watching a movie marathon and Evie fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning Evie was up on time, and ready and raring to get to work. It was Andy's first day after all, and she should be there, being herself before he came in at nine.

Andy had been told to come in whenever he normally would for work over with the police, and Andy told them that was five am on weekdays. Jack quickly backed up and told him to come in at nine. Most of the team was usually in by then, after all.

Jack was dragging along after Evie, and the pair had toast and jam for breakfast. They had juice knowing that Ianto would be ready with coffee and tea before they made it to the hub. Jack drove the SUV, and they got into work by eight. Jack was not happy about the hour, but Evie was in a good mood, and energetic, so he didn't argue much.

Tosh came in only a minute or two after them, Emma had been in a half hour already, and Ianto had already been in at least an hour. Gwen dragged herself in around 8:30, and Owen still hadn't made an appearance when Andy came down through the Tourist Office.

"Hey Andy!" Evie called cheerfully turned around in her chair to see the cog door.

"Hello," Andy said a little awkwardly.

"So, you'll be working over here between Gwen and Owen," Evie said gesturing towards the space that had been set up sometime in the last 24 hours. Gwen and Owen's desks had been shoved apart, and a third desk had been squeezed in between them. It was a little tight, but not nearly as much so as Tosh and Evie. Evie continued talking as Andy made his way over, "It's only until I can wheedle UNIT into loaning us some construction people to knock out that wall over there," At this Evie gestured to the wall under Jack's office. It was certainly tall enough to fit someone under there, but the stairs were in the way, and the walls constricted the area, "Then we'll set up a couple of desks for you and Gwen to work at. We're also going to expand the area by the autopsy bay, put Owen over there, and I'll be moving to the other side of the stairs. Jack will stay up in his office, and Emma will be in the Tourist office, Ianto has his own office, already full of papers, just over by the kitchen. I think he likes being closer to the coffee machine, but he won't admit it."

"O..kay," Andy said slowly.

"You're gonna love it here," Evie said happily, "Eugene will be joining Tosh and I as the scientific department, and we're looking for a couple more people to help with you and Gwen dealing with diplomatic relations. So some day _I_ won't be the one calling UNIT for help. Someone will take over dealing with UNIT, and someone else will deal with the American organization, I think they're part of the Air Force, which makes no sense…But someone else will be talking to the Queen too. She's the only person we have to answer to here. We talk with UNIT and the Americans and everything, but we don't have to do anything they say. We don't even listen to the Prime Minister if we don't want to!"

"Evie," Tosh interrupted lightly, "I think you're overwhelming him."

"Oh, right sorry about that," Evie replied looking a bit sheepish, "I'm just excited that we're getting more people, and more money to spend on the organization. Did I tell you that Jack's been looking into hiring some people to take over as field agents, we can spend more time looking into tech, and less going out into the field. It'll be great! I won't even have to carry a stun gun! Well, I will, I live with Jack after all, and danger follows Jack like a lost puppy."

"It does not!" Jack cried indignantly coming down from his office.

"It does," Gwen replied laughing at the two.

It was then that Owen finally shuffled in. He didn't even look at Andy who was now sitting at his desk, and just sat down, and put his head on the desk in front of him. There was a moment of silence as everyone watched the resident doctor, and to no one's surprise he started snoring a moment later. It certainly didn't make any of them feel safe.

_**XX**_

"I think your top priority in hiring should be a secondary doctor," Andy commented a few days later. Owen hadn't bothered to come in for work at all that day, and it was all starting to get worrisome.

"I think you might be right," Evie replied sadly, "But I already had someone in mind, and I'm just waiting for her to become available."

"What's so great about this woman over other doctors?" Andy asked sounding truly curious.

"Well, she travels with the Doctor for one," Evie replied, seeing Andy's confused expression she explained, "The Doctor is a mostly benevolent alien who travels through time and space. He picks up companions to travel with him, presumably because he gets lonely. Jack traveled with him for a while, and I met him briefly fairly recently. He's…interesting. But his latest companion is a young woman named Martha Jones, she's in training to become a doctor, and when she parts with the Doctor she'll have tons of experience with aliens of all kinds."

"I can see the appeal," Andy replied, "Maybe you could still find someone to fill in for a while though, I don't think Owen will be in any fit state any time soon. Maybe a forensics doctor of some kind from the police department. They'll be used to seeing violent scenes and such."

"I think that's a good idea. Then they could be in charge of field operations while Martha takes care of everyday issues in the hub, and Owen could take over all the research," Evie said half murmuring, "There's a lot more going on in Cardiff than we can deal with regularly. We deal with all the big things, but we miss Weevils all the time. We just don't have enough people. That's why I've got Jack letting me hire more people."

"It's a good idea," Andy replied, "I've been swamped down and all I have to deal with is the police, I don't know how you all dealt with it all before. I know you and Jack took care of most of the calls and things, but Detective Swanson keeps asking for you, and when I try to tell her you're working she just reams me a new one."

"Oh, well, Cathy is probably calling for personal issues then. She should really call my cell," Evie said shaking her head, "Next time she insists on talking to me pass along my cell and tell her to try me there. She should be more professional than that."

"I'll tell her about the cell, but I'm not saying anything about professionalism," Andy told her with a light shake of his head. Evie paused for a moment before laughing.

"I didn't mean for you to," Evie replied with a smile, "I was just commenting on the lack of professionalism. Of course, were you to tell her so I'd buy you a drink at the pub next time we both went, but I certainly wasn't implying you should tell her."

"Speaking of drinks…" Andy started and Evie looked to him questioningly, "Is it true you used to be a barkeep?"

"Yes, for a year actually," Evie said calmly, "It was one of the two years between quitting university and joining Torchwood. It's been a while, but I can still mix just about any drink you can think of."

"Is that why you have a margarita mix sitting on your desk?"

"No," Evie said laughing again, "That was my Christmas present from Owen, I haven't bothered to take it home yet. I'm not much of a drinker."

"I feel like there was an opportunity for a joke somewhere in there," Andy replied after a short pause.

"There probably was, but don't ask me what it was," Evie told him, "I never catch those kinds of things."

_**XX**_

The next day Evie took off to go visit Alice and Steven. She still hadn't given them their Christmas presents after all. She was certainly feeling bad about that fact. After all she had bought Alice a lovely long black pea coat, and a bright red scarf, because she knew the woman hated navy, and it seemed wrong to give her any kind of paler blue. Besides, she looked good in red.

Steven on the other hand bad been bought a new DS, a case, and several games to go with it. Evie wasn't sure exactly what games he would like, so she got him a puzzle game, an action game, and a role-play game. She figured he'd like one type, and she's be able to buy him that kind for future holidays.

Alice and Steven lived in a rather large house, out in the suburbs of Cardiff. It had a nice garden in the front, and a matching one in the back. All around it was a very nice house for a family, and it was zoned for a nice school. One of the best in the city actually.

"Aunt Evie!" Steven cried happily pulling the door open before Evie could even get there. As Steven wrapped his arms around her waist she had to look at Alice a bit dumbfounded. Sure, Luke called her Aunt Evie, but she was his mother's aunt. In this case she was the boy's grandfather's girlfriend. It was a bit more complicated.

"Hey Steven," Evie said after a moment wrapping her arms around him and lifting him off the ground, "You've gotten bigger since I saw you last."

"Mam says I'm too big to be picked up now," Steven told her in a conspiratorial whisper.

"You might be too big for your mam to carry you, but You're not to be for me and your Uncle Jack," Evie told him in a loud whisper with a wink to Alice.

"Grandpa Jack!" Steven cried out in surprise, "Didn't you know that?"

"Of course I did!" Evie said with a grin even though inside she was reeling with shock, "I do live with him don't I?"

"Yeah!" Steven replied laughing happily.

"Okay, I gotta put you down now," Evie told him setting him gently, "I can't carry you very long. You really have gotten bigger after all. Grandpa Jack can probably carry you longer. I'm sure he'd like to hear from you. You should ask your mam to call him up sometimes."

"Okay!" Steven said before rocketing back into the house.

"Hello Alice," Evie said pausing for a moment a little awkwardly before pulling the older woman into a hug, "It's been too long. You should have stopped by for Christmas. We had a house-guest, and the two of us decked the halls, but it would have been nice if you and Steven had joined us."

"I thought about calling you up," Alice admitted, "But I had thought you and Jack would be doing something special for the two of you. It was your first Christmas together after all."

"Some things as work came up just beforehand," Evie said with a sad shake of her head, "Three people from the 1950s came through. Christmas Eve one of them went and killed himself, Jack had to go find him, didn't come back till Christmas evening. Another flew back through the rift. They couldn't adapt to the early 2000s."

"I'm sorry to hear it," Alice replied sincerely.

"The third, an 18-year-old girl is working for us now," Evie told her, and before she could object Evie continued her explanation, "Just desk work, and just until she can start her own company. She wants to make women's dresses. I think it's brill, but it does take a lot of money. She's living in the same building as Ianto, you haven't properly met him, but he's my best friend, he does mostly administrative things, but he works at Torchwood too. But she's as safe as anyone else in Cardiff, it's just a desk job. And if she decides she wants to be cleared to handle a gun, I'll clear her, but I don't think she will."

"I suppose I can accept that," Alice said grudgingly. She still didn't like Torchwood, even if she had met (at least briefly) most of the team.

"I'm glad," Evie said smiling, "Now I had Christmas presents. They were ready as Christmas but things have been a bit crazy since then. We had some funerals to arrange, and paperwork to do, and we had to get Emma settled in an apartment so I haven't been able to stop by till now. Took the day off, because it didn't look like there would be any rift activity, and unlike most of my colleagues, I'm caught up on all my paperwork."

"I'm glad to hear you're not just walking out on responsibilities," Alice replied with a rueful grin.

"I think you know me well enough to know I wouldn't do that," Evie said still smiling, then she called into the house, "Steven!"

Steven came rocketing down the stairs and almost fell at the bottom.

"Careful," Evie admonished him, "I have a present for you, from me and Grandpa Jack. It was supposed to be for Christmas, but we haven't had a chance to come see you."

"Really? I made you a present too," Steven said proudly revealing a small package that had been behind his back, "My teacher said we could make one for each our parents, but it's just Mam now, so I made one for you and Grandpa Jack."

"Thank you," Evie said with a grin, "Here take this present and I'll take that one from you."

The two exchanged packages and Steven ripped through the paper to find the present beneath. His face lit up and he promptly began opening all the parts of the gift. Meanwhile, Evie was carefully undoing the wrapping that Steven had probably done himself, seeing as it was almost as much tape as paper. Inside was a handmade frame made of popsicle sticks, and decorated with little foam stickers. Inside the frame was a picture of Steven grinning at the camera. There was a little magnet on the back to put it on the fridge.

"I had forgotten that Steven started school this year," Evie admitted as she handed Alice her own (rather large) present, "I suppose it skipped my mind with everything going on. There's always something at Torchwood after all."

"I think I have a small idea of what that's like," Alice admitted, "I remember when I was very little my mum and Jack getting called into work at strange hours, I always had a babysitter, but it's not the same as your parents being there is it?"

Alice opened her present and pulled the coat and scarf from the paper. She spent a moment just looking at them before pulling Evie into a hug.

"Thank you," Alice said quietly into Evie's ear, "I know Jack had nothing to do with picking out the presents. Maybe he will next year."

"I'll make sure he will next year," Evie promised.

Evie stayed for lunch and laughed with Alice as Steven waited impatiently for his DS to finish charging so he could play with it. When Steven finally figured out that he could play with it while it was charging he sat right next to the wall, on the floor, and played for hours while Alice and Evie caught up with each other. It turned out that Alice had actually gotten a rip in the seam of her old coat just a few days ago, and kept meaning to go buy a new one, but hadn't bothered yet.

_**XX**_

"Jack?" Evie asked that evening as they sat at the table eating spagbol.

"Yes Evie?" was the distracted reply.

"When is Alice's birthday?" Evie asked looking right at Jack who had looked up with surprise at the question.

"It's March 9th, why?" was Jack's short reply.

"Because I knew that Steven's is in May, but I wasn't sure when Alice's was," Evie told him calmly, "How old will she be this year?"

"36," Jack said with a wince, "And if that didn't make me feel old…"

"You're not old!" Evie said with a laugh, "You don't look a day over 38!"

"_You_ make me feel old sometimes," Jack replied, "You're only 28, on the other hand I'm edging two hundred."

"Don't you have at least twenty years to go?" Evie asked raising an eyebrow.

"yes, but one you're over a hundred and fifty you're always edging two hundred," Jack replied looking downcast.

"I think," Evie started making Jack look over at her again, "That physically you look, act, and behave (most of the time), like a 38-year-old, so officially, if anyone asks we'll say you're 38."

"Still makes me feel old," Jack said with a playful grin, "After all 38 is ten years older than you."

"Ah, but I'll get ten years older and find a way to stop aging," Evie offered jokingly.

"And make millions off the patent," Jack added.

"No, I'll keep it just for me and you," Evie replied with a soft smile, "Because I never, ever want to lose you."

"As long as you want me, you have me," Jack replied seriously looking right into Evie eyes. Evie grinned and they found themselves laughing at each other,_ and_ themselves.

_**XX**_

Evie got a call a couple of weeks later from Eugene stating that he had managed to cram in enough courses this semester, that he would be finishing his associate's in May, then he'd been spending all summer and fall on his bachelors, then the next Spring and summer would be for his Masters. He would be finished in about a year and a half. Evie assured him that she was very impressed, but told him to cool it a little on the classes, and have a bit of a life.

Eugene refused to delay joining Torchwood any longer than he had to, so Evie told him that if he was willing to take a smaller course load, and not kill himself, she would offer him a part-time job for when he finished his associate's degree.

Eugene took her up on the offer and Evie had to go explain to Jack why Eugene would be joining them a couple of years earlier than expected. Jack just laughed at her, and told her that it had been her scheme to make sure everyone had less work, more free time, and more money.

The next day however it almost looked like they were going to be down a member, not up one.

There had been someone kidnapping Weevils, which Owen had been sent to investigate to try and get him out of his slump. But the day after Evie got her call from Eugene they had to go rushing into the Weevil fight club in order to keep Owen from getting himself killed. On purpose.

When Jack and Evie went to visit him in the hospital they were told that he didn't want to be rescued. At which point Evie had to be physically restrained, by Jack, to keep her from hitting the man.

"I don't care that you lost Diane," Evie growled at him, "I understand that you cared deeply for her. Perhaps you were truly in love, but that's no reason to kill yourself. Mope about for a while I can understand. Even you getting so sickeningly drunk so often, but I _cannot_ forgive you for trying to kill yourself. There is nothing so important as _life_."

At this point Jack dragged Evie from the room and left her in the waiting room to cool down while he talked to their colleague. When Jack returned Evie had fallen asleep on the couch she had taken over and Jack carried her down to their car, bridal style. Evie just gripped his coat lapel and rested her head on his shoulder, not bothering to wake up.

_**XX**_

The next day at work Evie was drinking tea when Andy came into work and started laughing. Evie looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then she looked at the mug she was using and chuckled a bit herself. Ianto's present to her had been a new mug with the legend "Prettiest Girl to Ever Kick Your Ass" on the side. No doubt he had is special made, because no one was going to make mugs like that regularly.

"Where did you get that?" Andy finally asked as he plopped himself into his chair. Gwen hadn't made it in yet, so there was no one in between them.

"Ianto gave it to me for Christmas," Evie replied with a grin, "I leave it on my desk, and Ianto makes me tea in it."

"Makes my present seem a bit impersonal," Andy replied. Andy had given her a box of chocolates for Christmas, while she had given him a couple of Sherlock Holmes novels, which Gwen said he enjoyed.

"No, you picked the right chocolates anyway," Evie said smiling over at him, "I like chocolate covered cherries, and chocolates with orange cream, and the ones with caramel and peanuts, and, ooh, the plain milk chocolate ones were great."

"I'm glad you enjoyed them then," Andy said with a slightly confused smile. It seemed that chocolate made her just as happy as a special made mug from her best friend. Good thing to remember there.

"I certainly did," Evie said with a smile, "Did I pick books you didn't already have?"

"Yes, actually I don't own any of them," Andy replied cordially, "I've been renting them from the library actually. It's nice to own a couple of them."

"That's good," Evie said grinning brightly, "I put books everywhere. Every room of Jack and I's flat had at least one self of books. Even the dining room, which you normally wouldn't expect books. But I put half the cookbooks there, the less used half, and I put the other half in the kitchen where they're easier to get at."

"Why?" Andy asked a little incredulously.

"I think that a room without a book is a bit like a person without a soul," Evie said poetically looking upwards at nothing in particular.

"That, and she owns too many to keep them all in the kitchen," Jack said walking behind them to find Ianto to make him more coffee.

"Jerk!" Evie called over her shoulder at him. He just smiled at her and walked on.

"How did you two end up together?" Andy asked wonderingly, "This is at least the twelfth time I've seen you two do that."

"What, me insult him and him wander off?" Evie asked, at Andy's affirmative she continued, "Quite frankly that's how I show affection to other people."

"Insult them?" Andy asked with an incredulous look on his face.

"Sometimes. Sometimes I just tease them, or they tease me or whatever," Evie told him calmly, "My brother and I used to be famous for getting into rows, but we were thick as thieves when we weren't fighting."

"I'm not sure I'll ever understand you," Andy commented as Gwen came in.

"None of us do, so you won't be alone," was Gwen's reply.

_**XX**_

It was on the First of February that the people from UNIT finally arrived to take care of the new construction for the hub. They were led by a Captain, who flirted shamelessly with all the women of Torchwood, despite the fact that half of them were taken, and he had been told as much.

Despite everyone's problems with the captain, the rest of the team were genial, and worked quickly. Evie directed all the work with an iron fist, and before long the hub was looking like a completely different place. First of all Evie had it opened more, so the area where the desks were actually went out over the water, and it lead straight to the lift, no more multiple flights of stairs. There was still a few steps from the cog door to the desks, but that was too big of an alteration to make. The area under Jack's office was opened up, which, consequently meant that Jack had to give up his room under his office, but there was now room for at least six desks over there, and Andy was moved over right away.

The autopsy bay was made large enough for three examination tables (the metal ones for cadavers), and another two beds for the live patients. There was an area added on near the entrance to the autopsy bay (renamed the medical bay), which was big enough for the planned three medical officers. Owen had returned the day before the construction began, and when they medical by was finished moved all his things to his new desk in the office for the medical officers.

The expanded desk area was given over to Gwen, Tosh, and Evie to share, but they quickly worked out how to divide the area between their two groups. The end closer to the invisible lift went to Gwen and her future field operatives, while the rest of the area was given to Evie, Tosh, and whoever they eventually hired to deal with everything else.

Before anyone knew it the construction was done, and it was already March. Evie went out shopping again, and bought Alice a couple of gifts, including a new book in a series Alice had admitted to reading in January, and a nice new watch. She then dragged Jack to the store to make him buy Alice something himself. Evie had promised the other woman after all.

Jack chose a lovely locket, in which he places a picture of Steven, and a picture of himself and Evie together. He then got the locket engraved to say "Happy Birthday to my Beloved Daughter – 2008" on the back. Evie was proud of him for his choice, and told him so.

Evie made a birthday cake for Alice herself, and along with Jack took her and Steven out to a restaurant, that Steven told 'Grandpa Jack' was his mam's favorite. Jack took the check and insisted on paying for everything, but told Steven he couldn't have dessert because Evie had made a lovely cake for his mother.

They went back to Jack and Evie's flat where they had cake and gave Alice her presents. Steven had gone out with Jack earlier in the week to go get his mam a present, and had helped keep it a secret at his and Evie's flat.

The new hat Steven had bought his mom was just a baseball cap, but it said "World's Best Mum" on it, and Alice put it on her head right after she opened the present. The book and watch were well received, but they all knew that the real main event was the little jewelry box from Jack.

It's true that Alice teared up a little when she saw the inscription on the back. Jack got a hug, and a kiss on the cheek, and Evie got a hug and a whispered "thank you."

_**XX**_

_**So, this chapter is a little short, but I wanted to get it out before I got too distracted with moving back down to school, and trying to orchestrate getting all my stuff there. I don't have my own car and will be traveling with my sister, my older brother will be coming by on Thursday to drop off my things I left at his house when I went back home after the Summer Semester, and then my Dad will be by on Saturday with the rest of my things. The fun part will be sleeping without a pillow Wednesday night, because there's no more room in my sister's car.**_

_**But, on a happier note, I think this chapter is very fluffy and nice.**_

_**For those who like Alice and Steven I've brought them back for not just one scene, but two. I also brought in UNIT. I didn't make a joke about the berets because Evie wouldn't look as good in them as Ianto would. After all, her hair is a really light blond with a hint of red; it doesn't suit bright colors quite as well. Evie wears a lot of pastels.**_

_**Also, I have decided exactly when Evie's secret will be revealed! It will be revealed (formally, many of you have at least a vague idea of what it is) when Jack returns at the beginning of the second season. I'll be dropping more hints till then, but we'll know for sure what it is then. That will be between three and six chapters from now. How many depends on how many filler chapters I write between episodes. Three is the minimum because I have to cover three chapters, however I think at least four is more likely, because I think we need to see a bit of life without Jack at Torchwood.**_

_**Please tell me what you think of the number of chapters before the reveal. Also , I'd love to hear what you think of this one, and all its domestic fluff.**_

_**I would like to thank my faithful reviewers, especially BiJane, who has finally returned! Also, my subscribers and the people who have added this story to their favorites, thank you as well. Even though I don't hear your opinions I can at least tell you like my story!**_


	14. Time Travel and Troubles

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during Captain Jack Harkness, Doctor Who should be sometime in Season 3 after The Lazarus Experiment, and The Sarah Jane adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

Soon after Alice's birthday Jack suddenly distanced himself. He would send Evie home early, and leave for work hours before Evie was even up. They barely talked, and every conversation was stiff, and awkward. They had never been like this before, and Evie had no idea what to do. She was in love with the man, but he seemed to be leaving her.

Evie in turn was quieter, more subdued. She still smiled, it wasn't truly depression, maybe. Truthfully Evie had no idea what she was feeling, all she knew was that she missed the closeness that had been there only a short while ago…

_**XX**_

A few days after Alice's birthday Tosh came into work in an amazing mood. It was really impressive how her face was just lit up.

"Hey Tosh," Evie said as Tosh took the desk next to her the next morning, "Good news?"

"Great news," Tosh grinned, "Today is my grandfather's 88th birthday."

"Oh, make sure to congratulate him then," Evie told her with a grin, "It takes some good genes and some good habits to make it to that age."

"Yes, 88 is a joyous birthday for the Japanese," Tosh replied, "Jack gave me permission to fly to London to join in with everything. He'll know where I am all the time, but at least I'll see everyone again." The blissful look on Tosh's face made Evie sad at the deal that had been brokered for Tosh's freedom from prison. That's not to say that Evie was sad that Jack had rescued her, just that he had forbidden her from contact with her family.

His reasoning was sound of course. The reason why Tosh got arrested was because she stole government secrets while trying to save her Mother. Obviously her family was her weak point, and Jack didn't want to see Tosh struggling with her commitment to Torchwood versus her filial obligations to her mother, or someone else in her family for that matter.

"Evie! Tosh!" Jack yelled running downstairs excitedly. It was a Saturday, and both Gwen and Andy had taken the day off. Emma was in her office per normal, and Ianto was hiding in the archives somewhere, Owen was in, but he was also half slouched over his desk, paying no attention to anything around him.

"What?" Evie asked looking exasperated.

"Got a call about some old music drifting out of an abandoned dance house. Thought you two might be up for it," Jack replied with a grin.

"Tosh's flying to her grandfather's," Evie said in what was very nearly a monotone.

"It can wait an hour or so," Jack said dismissively, completely missing the disappointed look on Tosh's face.

"Jack, one of these days someone is going to shoot you," Evie said calmly collecting her 'running' shoes. Which were converse today, and really not that great for running anyway.

"I'll just pop right back, and I'll shoot them," Jack said dismissively before climbing the stairs back to his office.

"I feel the need to apologize for him," Evie told the older woman looking over at her.

"No, he's right," Tosh said sounding a little like she was choking tears back, "Torchwood is more important that going to my grandfather's birthday."

"No, it's not," Evie replied before getting up with her bag of time-sensitive scanners.

_**XX**_

Almost as soon as the three had piled into the SUV Tosh's cell rang. It some kind of bright pop-y music in a foreign language, that Evie assumed was Japanese. When Tosh answered it was in the same language and the other two occupants of the car got to listen to her yattering on in Japanese to someone very quickly, and without hesitation over some words that Evie was sure would have made her stutter horribly.

When they arrived at their destination it was obvious the place had been closed down for years. The doors and walls were plastered with flyers, and there was quite a bit of graffiti adorning the brick walls. The newest flyers looked to be only a few weeks old and said "VOTE SAXON." So campaign posters for the current Minister of Defense, who was running for Prime Minister. Somehow it didn't surprise Evie at all. The man had campaign posters everywhere, and all the people Evie knew were planning on voting for him. Evie thought his competition would be a better choice, but it seemed that Saxon's honey tongue was probably going to win the election.

The three just went right into the building, and Tosh hung up her phone just before Evie got the doors open.

"So who was it?" Evie asked curiously, but not pushily. It was clear to everyone that if Tosh didn't feel like answering there would be no pressure from Evie to do so. Jack on the other hand was a completely different story. The women both knew that even if Evie would let Tosh just ignore the question, Jack would not do the same. In fact he was likely to order her to tell, even if it has nothing to do with Torchwood.

"My older brother," Tosh replied looking straight at Evie, but obviously hyper-aware of Jack behind her.

"I'm not sure I realized you were talking," Evie replied stiltedly. Things had been…strange…for no reason. It made no sense to Evie, and even less sense to the rest of the team, but Evie and Jack were distant. It was like Jack wasn't talking anymore. Sure, he shot his mouth off, but Evie suddenly felt the need to be cautious with what she said to him.

"Not normally," Tosh replied her eyes flicking between Evie and Jack nervously. It seemed everyone had caught onto the tension, and it was clear that it made Tosh just as uneasy as it made Evie herself.

Jack started into the building ahead of the two women and moved slowly looking around. There was this look on his face…like he had just come home after being away. Evie felt herself falling, as though Jack was more distant than even second before.

"So…" Evie said her voice choked just a little. She cleared it and continued, "Where exactly are we Tosh?"

"The Ritz Dancehall. It's been derelict since 1989 but someone's complained about hearing music..." Tosh replied as Jack continued into the building. He started up the stairs opposite the front door, but stopped suddenly on the second step.

"...music from the 1940s." Tosh finished and Jack turned an shushed them.

Then Evie heard it.

There was music, old timey music that she had heard Jack playing in his office just the day before…

_Flashback_

_Jack was sitting at his desk staring at a pile of photographs and smiling abscently as he touched one of the photo's reverently._

_Music was playing on Jack's old gramophone, and Evie could place it as something out of the forties. There was a bottle of unlabeled alcohol (Evie assumed it was scotch or brandy), and a half-full tumbler on next to a pile of photos._

_Evie watched as Jack drank down his drink and reverently returned all the photos to a little tin box, which he placed in his desk drawer. But for just a moment before the photo was placed in the box Evie could see it clearly._

_It was a pretty woman in a wedding dress looking at the camera with a serious look (an old photo then), and standing behind her was Jack._

_XX_

_A few hours later Evie snuck into the room and looked into his desk and found the box. They were all pictures of the same woman. Her and Jack, and even one of her, Jack, and two children, a little girl and a little boy._

_No doubt it was an ex-wife of Jack's. Which meant those two children were his. But under the photos were three rings. One was an engagement ring, and two wedding rings. They were well-made and obviously good quality and Evie felt the urge to cry._

_He had been in love with a woman enough to marry her. _

_No doubt, she would never get the same._

_**XX End Flashback XX**_

"You coming up?" Jack asked impatiently from the stairs. Evie looked up to see him and Tosh both looking at her curiously. Evie forced a smile and followed after them.

"Just admiring the décor, and the music," Evie commented flippantly.

"Let's get going then," Jack said starting back up the stairs. There was a set of big double doors at the top of the stairs, and Jack flung them open cheerfully. Inside it was a bigger room, which was much of the same. It was forties sort of architecture, and all the furniture was covered plastic, and all the fixtures were wrapped tightly in plastic.

"Wow! Look at the chandelier. No neon lights back then," Jack said happily looking up at a large chandelier. Evie looked up, but wasn't impressed as her boyfriend danced across the room before grabbing her and swinging her across the room in a slow dance.

Evie smiled a little wrapping herself into Jack's arms as he kept talking.

"Just dashing young soldiers and pretty young ladies. And as they danced, the girls would look into their partners' eyes, smile softly and say..." Jack said and spun Evie out. The blond giggled a bit and let him spin her back in.

"How long before you head off to war?" Jack finished with Evie held close to him. He paused for half a second and looked as if he was about to say something, but before he could…

"Are we going or not?" rang out across the room from Tosh. Evie moved away from Jack guiltily; she had forgotten that Tosh was there with them.

They continued through the building going downstairs to find graffiti that made Evie's head ache. The colors were bright, and made no real sense, after all what could 'BAD WOLF' mean. But somehow it looked like it was wreathed in golden light, and it was so bright that it made her head hurt, and Evie stumbled the next step.

Jack caught her concernedly, but Evie just forced a little smile and straightened herself, making an effort not to look at the graffiti anymore. But the room in front of them was just as empty and abandoned as the others.

"Come on. There's nothing here but memories and dust," Then they heard the music again. Not only the music but also people chattering and laughing, and AS they started up the stairs Evie caught another glimpse of the golden wreathed graffiti before she fell back and collapsed on the landing between the floors.

Then all was dark for a moment.

_**XX**_

"_Evie," Someone was calling softly._

"_Go 'way," Evie groaned rolling over. She was comfortable here. She saw no reason at all to move from her place._

"_Evie," The voice was more insistent now, "Evie you have to get up. We have to talk."_

"_What?" Evie asked irritably sitting up and looking around. It was only then that she realized that she didn't know where she was._

"_This is important," the man said making Evie look at him. He was young, maybe her age, maybe a year or two older than her. He had dark hair, and a square face. But when Evie looked him in the eyes she realized he was not young at all._

"_I know you," Evie blurted out, "But I've never seen you before. How could that happen?"_

"_I change my face sometimes," The man replied with a smile, "Do you like it? I think the bowtie was a good touch, but Amy always says it's old fashioned. And River shot my hat. I was very upset with her. It wasn't nice at all."_

"_How do I know you?" Evie asked interrupting what looked to be a rather long rant._

"_Well, I've known you your whole life, but you don't remember that stuff. Just recently though, you met me with..um…with Martha, at Lazarus' party," That was less rambly. Evie wasn't sure why, but it seemed this man was the Doctor, but…he was very different from how he was before._

"_Doctor?" Evie asked furrowing her brow in confusion._

"_Yep, that's me isn't it," the Doctor replied with a grin, "Well, that's what everyone calls me. Well, I call me that too…but I'm not sure why. I think I've forgotten. I think it had something to do with the Council, and the TARDIS and all of that. Can't recall."_

"_Why are we here?" Evie asked before looking around again. The room was bright and clean, and vaguely lit by an orange light through the window. But the walls were painted a slightly off white, and the bed she was laying in was soft and the sheets were off-white patterned with orange, red, and yellow swirls, reminding her a little of a fire. "Where is here?"_

"_Well, here is in your mind," the Doctor replied, "You're here because of a number of conflicting temporal patterns that cover the dance hall. See, you'll have to tell me about all this the next time we see each other, but it will be back when I wore ties, and the suits, and the funny hair. But the temporal patterns were conflicting, and messing around with the delicate patterns that are contained within yourself and your necklace. Not a normal necklace, but don't open it. Don't worry about._

"_Actually, you'll probably forget most of this conversation later, but it's only important that you tell me about what happens when you wake up. I can't stay much longer, I'm crossing my own timeline a little, but I should be alright, because I think my younger self is off doing something in…I don't know when, but I'm fairly sure I'm not in this year," The Doctor looked distracted from whatever it was his message was supposed to be._

_Things started to blur, and distort, and Evie wasn't very sure of anything anymore. It was…what was she just…_

_Temporal patterns in the dance hall._

_**XX**_

Not a single moment had passed. Everything was as it had been before. Tosh and Jack were near the top of the stairs, and she was lying on the ground of the landing below.

Then at the top of the stairs Tosh and Jack stopped in shock before turning and looking right at her. But they looked around confusedly, like they were looking for her.

"Where did Evie go?" Tosh asked looking at Jack, expecting him to know. Evie sat up stiffly and looked up at them.

"I'm right here you jerks," Evie said irritably, her back hurt, and it felt a bit like she had hit her head a bit hard.

"She was just behind us," Jack replied walking back down the stairs panic written on his face, "Evie!"

"I'm here Jack," Evie gritted forcing herself back up. But then Jack brushed right past her down the stairs in a panic. He couldn't see her.

If Jack couldn't see her…

What on earth had happened here?

_Conflicting Temporal Patterns…probably won't remember…just that…_

Why was time affecting her, and not them?

_**XX**_

After Jack finished panicking they went through the building and Evie stuck close behind them, scared to lose them.

Evie half expected that she would pass through solid objects or something, but objects were just as solid as they had ever been, and people moved out of her way, seemingly without noticing what they were doing. It was strange, but not really all that different from what things were usually like.

AS they made their way through the dancing crowd on the upper floor Tosh murmured to Jack, "They look so real."

"They're not ghosts. It's a simple temporal shift. And it's beautiful!" Jack said with a bit of wonder before looking around again worriedly, "Any idea what might have happened to Evie?"

"No, I don't think we should leave just yet though," Tosh replied looking around nervously, "If it's a full temporal shift she should probably be around here somewhere. She should be in the same time as we are, but it's possible she was shunted to a different time because of a different physical location. But if that were true, we most likely wouldn't be in the same time together either, because we weren't occupying the same spot in space."

"So, we believe she's probably here, but she could just as likely ended up in the dark ages?" Jack asked looking thoroughly disappointed that Tosh could not answer him, and that Evie was not with him to make everything make sense.

"Well, to be fair it's a fifty percent chance she's here with a thirty percent chance she's in our original times, and only a twenty percent chance of anything else being true," Tosh replied in a tone that made it was clear she was trying to make him feel better.

"Twenty percent is still too big," Jack grunted quietly. Evie tried to put her hand on his shoulder, but it felt like there was on invisible wall between her hand and his body. Maybe wall wasn't the right word…it flexed and moved a little, but Evie still couldn't make contact with Jack's shoulder, and her efforts made no effect on even the fabric on Jack's greatcoat.

"I agree, but Evie is currently one of the foremost experts on experimental quantum physics, if I know her at all, she'll work her hardest to get back. So we'll have to do the same," Tosh told him the fear from earlier melting into the ether, now that they were in a situation that Tosh was much better equipped to deal with than Jack himself, "We should look outside to see if the effect is only inside the building, or if we've been moved and the building unaffected. That will change how the situation should be dealt with."

"Let's go," Jack said striding off for the door where the three had entered the building only ten or fifteen minutes earlier, which was at the same time over sixty years in the future.

The door opened to reveal what was most definitely the 1940s (and night time where it had been midmorning when they arrived), so Tosh and Jack closed the door back behind them and went right back into the dance hall.

"We really are in 1941. What if we can't get back?" Tosh asked in a quiet voice that all the same screamed that she was terrified of that eventuality.

"Flotsam and jetsam slips through all the time. We'll get back. I'm just worried about finding out what happened to Evie, and for that we'll need some of those equations you have on your laptop," Jack told her looking her straight in the eye as Evie crept closer, wishing she could hug him. He was so obviously worried about her, and she couldn't even lessen his fears, because she had no clue what had happened to her either.

"I have a life there," Tosh retorted angrily, "You have a life there. How can you be so calm about us getting back. Evie is not the center of the universe. She's my friend and I want her to be safe, but we need to get back so I can do some proper scans and find out what's happened to her."

People were turning to look at Tosh and Jack and the small Japanese woman seemed not to have noticed at all, but Jack saw the looks and understood exactly what needed to be done.

"People are staring at us. We need to try to blend in," Jack said more quietly than he had spoken before. Tosh took off her jacket, and he black dress wasn't too far off from what other people were wearing, but it was different enough that she wasn't blending properly.

"It's easy for you to say. I'm the only Asian here," Tosh replied in an angry tone only just a little louder than a whisper. Evie looking around the room realized that Tosh was right. She was the only Asian in the room and for half a second Evie thought she saw a glimpse of her own face, but there was no mirror, and she realized she must have seen another blond woman who looked a bit like her. Who knew, might have even been her Grandmother, who she knew lived in Cardiff for a while before she married her Grandfather.

"Don't worry. You're with the Captain," Jack replied taking Tosh's arm lightly and leading her through the throngs of people. Evie tried to keep up, but before she knew what had happened the two had disappeared and she couldn't tell Jack's greatcoat from anyone else's and Tosh was shorter than many of the other women to say nothing of any of the men crowding the rooms.

Evie found herself wandering through crowds of people who couldn't see her and she felt uncomfortably aware of her invisibility, like she never had before. Not even in the days when she worked as a barkeep and she served drinks with hardly any acknowledgment, because there would be people like Jack who would pass her a large tip on their way out. Now no one saw her at all, and she felt a strange nostalgia, as if she had felt just this way before.

Her chest felt tight and warm and Evie saw golden light, and silver light. Neither touched the other but they took up the same place in space and there was a great gaping hole in the middle of the world and—

Then Evie was staring at the ceiling of the dancehall, just where she had woken once before. Standing over her was a concerned looking Gwen.

"Wha—what happened?" Evie breathed out slurring like she had been drinking a bit too much.

"I don't know, you were just lying on the floor when I got here to see what happened," Gwen replied worriedly, "I already called Owen, he's on his way to come check on you. He should be here soon."

"Jack," Evie said quietly, "I need to get to…"

"Where are Jack and Tosh?" Gwen asked helping Evie to sit up gingerly.

"19—1946, I think," Evie admitted getting up, "But there are serious temporal disturbances tearing this building apart. I think if I can just find the right spot again I can walk across time and find them. Bring them back."

Evie was forcing herself, wobbling, to her feet and trying to take the stairs upward.

"Can you really just walk across fifty years?" Gwen asked standing close in a position like she was ready to catch Evie as soon as she fell over.

"Only if you know what I do," Evie said and reached for her head closing her eyes tightly, "I know so much. It will fade if I'm gone too long. The…the temporal lines running through Cardiff have started everything but the convergences on this building make it easier for me to hold onto things. It will fade, like one of my blackouts if I leave this building before everything is over, so we much work quickly."

Evie gasped and clutched her head again doubling over in obvious pain.

"You need to get away from here," Gwen ordered strongly. At least Gwen's voice was strong her face betrayed her emotions. Even though Gwen and Evie would never be good friends they would always have a camaraderie in the fact that they both work for Torchwood and try to keep hold of their lives outside of it (Gwen had Rhys and Evie Sarah-Jane).

"No!" Evie cried out forcing herself into a standing position again. "If I leave everything I know right now, will fade away. Right here, right now, I know everything there is to know about temporal mechanics and time travel, and even though I'm in horribly pain I can't leave until I bring Jack and Tosh back."

"You really and truly love him don't you?" Gwen said after a pause, "I don't think I understood before now. I can tell. In the way you're talking, being here could kill you. But you're going to stay to keep Jack safe. I wonder if I love Rhys that much."

"You do," Evie told her pulling herself to her full height and for half a second Gwen thought the room was full of golden light, "Or you will. Everything. He's everything to you, like Jack is to me, like Owen is to Tosh, and Ianto to…to…

"It's gone. I knew something it's gone," Evie said slumping against the wall again, "I have to get him back before it all does this. Just fades."

"What do we have to do?" Gwen asked straightening and stepping to Evie to help her stand.

"Call Ianto,"

_**XX**_

"This is a very very bad idea," Ianto said again as they heard him typing something over the comms.

"Yes, but if we don't we'll lose them forever," Evie argued closing her eyes and leaning against the graffiti on the wall listening to the sound of 1940s music drifting through the building, "Don't forget the seven, it will work with a five but it will be a bit more unpredictable, and with the missing piece it could cause the rift to open wide and swallow the whole city."

"I feel like the risks are a bit too big," Ianto said dutifully typing in numbers and symbols anyway, "Aren't we supposed to protect this city from the rift, not put it at risk."

"Some things are bigger than you expect," Evie replied quietly, "It's not just me who will suffer if they don't come back the whole universe will…will…"

Evie mind drifted off and Gwen watched as her eyes went glassy and she slumped a little further downwards and Gwen gripped Evie's arm lightly keeping her from falling all the way to the ground. Evie still slumped just a bit further.

"That's everything," Ianto said bringing Evie back into the world around her. Evie sat up quickly as if to prove there was nothing wrong with her.

"Check through quickly, there's no use taking more risk than we have to," Evie told him, "I'll tell you when to start the manipulator, I have to walk across time first. I just have to wait until the timelines shift just right. It might take a little while, but you'll need to start the rift manipulator as soon as I say."

"Are you sure I shouldn't come with you?" Gwen asked looking over at her colleague and superior.

"No, the more people who have to go through the rift the longer it will be open and the more damage it will do to the fabric of time and space," Evie told her feeling for the shift in time.

…There, the threads were shifting ever so little near the dance floor upstairs. Evie would have to be at the right place as the threads lined up or nothing would happen, or worse she would be in the wrong place.

"Upstairs," Evie said turning to look at Gwen who looked to be almost asleep, had she been feeling for the threads that long?

"I'll help you, you won't make it on your own," Gwen said standing up quickly and offering her hand, "Will you still be semi-omniscient in the other time?"

"No, I don't think so. The same number of timelines won't be converging there. I'll likely pass out as I return because of the strain on my mind. You'll need to be there to catch me, but I'll need you to be at least three feet from me," Evie said as they made their way up the stairs. Evie stood just where the timelines were going to converge, and didn't bother to reanalyze them, although she should have.

Just before she could get into place she heard yelling over the comms. Not the good kind of shouting but apparently Owen was about to do something stupid and Ianto had to shoot him.

"Please tell me you didn't permanently damage our doctor?" Evie asked while somewhere in her mind something was screaming out….objections and suddenly she was engulfed in bright white light and she blinked looking through the light to see the same dance floor, but now it was cleaner and there were people dancing. Well not really people persay, it was more just Jack and some man Evie didn't know anything about. And they were a bit too close for Evie to be happy, but she had long since learned that being in a relationship with Jack was not conducive to jealousy.

Then Tosh came running towards the light calling over her shoulder, "Jack! Jack, we need to get out!"

But Jack was looking at the man he was holding and hestitating, this was taking too long. Soon the damage would be too bad despite Evie's efforts to contrary. Tosh had paused less than a foot from Evie, but didn't seem to see the woman in the light.

"Jack, you have to! We need you!" Tosh called desperately, and Evie's insides froze. Was he considering trying to stay. Was he glad to be rid of her? Was that what his distance these last weeks was?

Jack said something to the man and stepped away. Tosh seemed to relax a little as she waited in front of the rift. The man in uniform on the dance floor nodded to whatever Jack had said.

Then Jack said louder so Evie could hear him, "It's my duty." Jack took several more steps towards the open rift before spinning and going back to the man as Evie's heart broke. He was leaving her. He was going to leave her behind and…and…she would never be happy again. Without Jack it would be like everyday was the blackest night without stars or moon to light the world.

Then Jack was right up against the man and he leaned over and they were kissing. Kissing as passionately as he had ever kissed Evie. It seemed with all the love Evie had apparently lost from him. And Evie could feel everything end as she stepped away from the rift sobbing.

A moment later Jack and Tosh were standing in front of them, but when Jack went to embrace her she backed away and another sob tore from her throat violently. Evie turned from Jack and walked as well as she could to Gwen and past the dark haired woman without a word to any of the others in the room. It wasn't until she had completely left the room that she let herself collapse.

Evie sobbed on the floor wishing she could forget everything that had happened today, pretend she had another black-out, but she knew she wouldn't. She could remember a voice saying "_it's only important that you tell me about what happens when you wake up_" she would tell someone about everything that had happened today.

Evie sobbed and curled into herself in the middle of the hall, and when she began to pass out she didn't fight it. She just let the peaceful darkness consume her.

_**XX**_

When Evie woke she was immediately aware that she was not at home, nor was she in the dance hall where she passed out. She was not in the hub either, so Evie ran through all the places she could be, and found herself short. She wasn't at Ianto's, nor was she at Tosh's or Emma's where she might expect to be. She Evie opened her eyes and saw brightly colored walls and realized: she was at Gwen's.

She sat up slowly looking around the living room full of pictures of her and Rhys; joking, laughing, kissing, and generally being a loving couple. She couldn't help comparing it to the living room in the flat she owned together with Jack. They had nice new furniture (in comparison to the gently loved and worn couch she was sitting on), and calmly colored walls. A giant fish tank, a big screen TV, and a large bookshelf took up most of their wall space, and they only had one picture, which had been taken by Gwen on the day they moved into their flat. Gwen's home looked cozier, and more loving than theirs. All the same Evie wanted her books and Penny.

"You're awake then?" Gwen asked from the kitchen behind where Evie was sitting.

"Yes," Evie said quietly her throat sore from all the crying the day before.

"Any omniscient thoughts?" Gwen inquired, and Evie realized she probably had no idea what had happened, and just saw that she had flinched from Jack's embrace.

"No, I've forgotten most of what I knew yesterday," Evie replied, "A breakthrough or two maybe about the nature of time travel, but that's it. Did Tosh and Jack tell you what happened?"

"No, Tosh said it wasn't her place, and Jack stormed away when I told him I was taking you home for the night," Gwen replied compassionately, "You don't have to tell me. Whatever happened must have been very emotional, and you don't need to worry yourself over it. Call Emma, tell her you're taking the day off and you can go shopping, or drive to London to see Sarah-Jane."

"No, I can't take today off," Evie said sitting up, "the rift was open too long because Jack feels the need to kiss anything that breathes." That last was said with so much venom that Gwen backed away from the counter she was leaning against to get some distance from Evie.

"How bad will it be?" Gwen asked after a moment's silence.

"Really bad. If it wasn't going to be I would take the week with Sarah-Jane and let him cool his heels for a while worrying over where I'd gone. I expect we'll be seeing everything from Roman soldiers, to the plague, to alien spaceships, to technology from the future. We're in for a busy while until Tosh and I can recreate some of the equations that seemed so obvious yesterday," Evie replied standing up, "What did you do with my stun gun yesterday? I'm in the mood to shoot Jack."

"It's on my desk," Gwen replied not even bothering to argue it. If Jack had been kissing someone else making the rift stay open too long he deserved everything Evie was going to dish out.

_**XX**_

After a quick trip to the flat to change clothes (Evie's most revealing work clothes), Evie went down to the hub and stormed right past everyone working without a word to any of them. She stormed right up to Jack's office and slammed the door open.

"Evie!" Jack said his face lighting up as soon as he saw her.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Evie asked pulling her gun from her waistband, "I've given you every bit of love and affection I have within me, and what do you do? You run off and kiss someone else. Who else have you been kissing? Or have you been shagging others while you were at it? What kind of dick are you?"

Jack made as if to answer her accusations, but Evie cut him off.

"And not only were you bothering to kiss someone other than me you did so while we had the rift opened wide between two points. You've been working for Torchwood long enough to know that if the rift is opened it can't be left so for more than a minute, but you spent that long hesitating before bothering to start getting your ass to the fucking rift. Then you spent even longer kissing some man as if you loved him. As if you loved him more than you ever seemed to care for me.

"How can you lie to me like that? How could you say you loved me when you were willing to run off and kiss someone else. The occasional flirt I can understand, you wouldn't be you without it. But then you're kissing someone else and I just can't understand you anymore." The last was choked with tears

"Evie…" Jack said in a voice that sounded tender and Evie had to make herself stay distant from the situation, "Could you please lower the gun?"

"No," Evie replied curtly.

"Please Evie, he was going to die. He did die the next day in a fight," Jack started to explain.

"And how did you know that then?"

"I stole his name," Jack told her calmly.

"Then what is your real name?" Evie asked keeping herself calm.

"It's been so long since anyone has said it that I'm not even sure I remember anymore," Jack told her shaking his head a little, "I'm not sure anyone in all of history will remember anymore. My brother would know if he was still alive, but he's dead. Died because I was scared."

Evie stared at him for a long moment.

"Maybe one day I can forgive you," Evie said looking at him straight in the eyes, "Today is not the day. I can't forgive you right now, and because of that I can't trust you not to go off kissing or shagging other people while my back in turned. Until I've forgiven you, you can move back into the hub, I've already asked Emma and Ianto to set up one of the rooms with your old cot and everything. I'll drop off your clothes and things tomorrow. I'm keeping Penny and the fish tank is too big to move or I would let you take them."

"Evie please," Jack called as Evie spun on her heels and walked from the room. At least Jack was smart enough to know not to chase after her. All he would have gotten for that effort would be a punch to the face and a stunner to the chest.

_**XX**_

"You were shouting earlier," Owen said at lunch when Evie joined him, to avoid the people who would have been too compassionate to her about everything.

"So you heard everything?" Evie asked quietly.

"Yeah, pretty much," Owen said and the two of them fell into a long silence.

"How are you doing?" Evie asked.

"Ianto's a good shot, there's not permanent damage I'll be fine in a few weeks, as good as new," Owen replied with a smile Evie knew to be false. Owen was starting to pick up a little after Diane, but all the same he was still cut up.

"You know that isn't what I meant," Evie told him looking straight into his face, watching as the smile crumbled on his face.

"I'm not sure I'll ever be better," Owen finally said very quietly.

"I'm not sure I will be either," Evie told him looking in his eyes as she said it.

The two spent the rest of their lunch in silence before rushing off to deal with rift activity all over the city. But both of them thought about the little snippet of conversation all day.

_**XX**_

Evie had trouble sleeping that night.

Penny slept in the bed with her, but the bed still seemed too big and too cold without Jack to keep her company. The whole flat seemed far too large without Jack's huge personality to fill every corner of the rooms. It seemed darker too, as if the sun refused to shine the in windows without Jack inside the apartment.

The fish filled Evie with sadness every time she saw them, but she refused to stop feeding them and let them die, because they were Jack's. Evie had carefully packed up a suitcase with all of Jack's shirts, his pants, all his underwear, socks, and all but one of his coats. The last coat she tucked into bed with herself that night and let herself cry once more over Jack's betrayal.

When Evie woke in the morning it was find that Jack's suitcase was gone, there was a long letter from him, a box of chocolates, and a vase of tulips in pink, red, and white along with some vibrantly pink flowers that looked like lilies, and apple blossoms. It was a beautiful arrangement despite (or perhaps because of) the differences in the appearances of all the flowers.

Jack's letter begged her forgiveness, and professed his apologies, and told her the flowers means he was promising his care for her, declaring his love, and aspiring for her forgiveness. Evie found herself wondering at the fact that he actually knew the language of flowers well enough to send her a bouquet with a message.

As Evie was about to leave for work a little while later she found Jack's key had been pushed under the door after he locked the door that morning. Evie was late because she broke down and cried again.

_**XX**_

_**So…Um…this chapter is really…really…really late. I'm truly and sincerely sorry for this.**_

_**I was busy starting up with school, and then writer's block hit with a vengeance, and put me almost at a standstill for well over a month. Then I ended up changing most of this chapter, and changing some things I hadn't intended to.**_

_**Despite the lack of appearance from Bilis in this chapter he was there, messing with everyone. Gwen met him before she found Evie, and Tosh and Jack's side of things was almost identical. But happened in the hub was similar, but a little different because Owen didn't leave the hub and Evie supplied them with all the equations.**_

_**I feel really bad for what I've done to their relationship in this chapter, and some of you will be happy to see it, while others angry. It was done for a reason, and I will tell you all they will get back together in the future. I won't tell you when, but I promise it will happen…**_

_**I would like to blame BiJane for the sudden evil turn in my treatment of my characters, but I'll be thanking my roommates for helping me keep Evie's reactions as natural as possible. They have completely different temperaments and serious boyfriends and I asked how they would react in this situation. Evie's reactions are a combination (one said they would break up with him straight off, and another said they would break his face. Crying and breaking down was also suggested by them, so Evie's done a bit of all of it).**_

_**Please tell me what everyone thinks, and I apologize once more for the long delay. The next should not be even close to as long because I have my writing mojo back.**_


	15. Tragedy, Drama, and Generally Bad Things

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during The End of Days, Doctor Who should be before Utopia into the opening scene of the episode, and The Sarah Jane Adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

As Evie started the short walk to the hub she got no less than seventeen calls from around the world and the city of Cardiff asking what was going on. Evie did her best to explain to those who were capable of understanding that a safe and mostly routine dealing with the rift had been disturbed, and the rift had splintered, she told them that they were already working to heal the tears but until then everything would have to be dealt with on a case to case basis.

Walking in the tourist entrance she told Emma to lock the front door and follow her downstairs for a meeting. Emma did as she was asked and hurried down the stairs looking worried and a good bit scared as well. As Evie reached the main floor of the hub she called everyone to come to the meeting room and asked Andy to go get Jack from his office.

Evie was taking over.

The emergency had three people at fault. Evie was the first for giving the proper equations to Ianto in order to open the rift. The second was Owen, of opening it too soon without the proper convergence of timelines. The third and last was Jack, for taking so long before entering the rift. They would have had a rather busy week even if Jack had rushed through the open rift as soon as he saw it, but because he had waited it had world reaching consequences.

As Evie laid out what had happened who was at fault, and what they were going to do about it everyone was mostly silent.

"It's not my fault at all," Owen argued when Evie said his name, "You were opening it whether or not I did anything."

"Yes, but you did it without the timelines converging in the right place, it would have helped to cushion the effect, keep it closer to the city, we still would have had problems all over the British Isles, but they would have been short lived. A few days, a week at most. But your timing made the cracks spread out into mainland Europe, parts of Africa, and significant portions of the Northern Atlantic," Evie told him wishing she didn't have to explain this. The sooner she would leave Jack's compassionate gaze the better for both of them.

"But they're all over the world," Andy pointed out unhelpfully as Owen sulked and glowered a bit.

"Yes, that was Jack's fault," Evie said curtly refusing to look in the man's direction. There was a stretch of silence as no one wanted to say anything. The tension in the room was thick enough it could be cut with a knife.

The silence was finally broken by the ring of the phone on Andy's desk across the main floor. Andy hurried over to the phone and his face grew even more solemn than it had been only a moment before. Before long Andy was grabbing his coat and calling Gwen over.

"We've got a Roman in the jail apparently. That was Swanson, she wants a couple of Torchwood people to go over there," Then Andy turned to Owen, "Apparently there's an outbreak of something deadly at the hospital, they want Torchwood to fix that too."

"I'm going," Owen replied rushing to his own desk to gather up some of his basic equipment.

"Take Tosh," Jack replied gesturing for Tosh to follow Owen out. Tosh went to get her wallet and she was off following Owen at a half run to keep up with the man's faster strides. As Evie watched them rush off she felt a strange nostalgia, like she knew something about them that she didn't anymore. It was beyond just strange.

"I have work to do if we're going to attempt to fix all this without more damage as things are," Evie muttered rushing off to her desk where she promptly kicked off her shoes and started up the computer, "Emma? Could you call in Eugene? We're going to need him too I think."

After that Evie dropped herself into equations and diagrams, pictures, and reports and completely ignored the hub, even when Andy and Gwen returned with a Roman, or when Ianto made multiple trips up to deal with restless Weevils. Everyone who worked at Torchwood knew only Evie had the ability in physics to really and truly understand the Rift and everything that was going on.

When Eugene arrived it was with mathematical prowess that none of the other members of Torchwood had seen before checking Evie's equations and working through a number of them himself. When the two had reached the same point in calculations they started talking as they worked throwing technical terms back and forth, Evie occasionally having to explain some concept of the Rift, but Eugene always caught on quickly they continued without a hitch.

At one point Eugene lost his thread of thought and stared off in the opposite direction as Evie, and when Evie called him back to task he looked lost like something was intrinsically wrong with the world. Evie caught a glimpse of Emma staring off into space at a different point, and there were tears in her eyes, but Evie didn't have time to deal with her. She had even caught dependable Andy looking at the opening into the Medical Bay as though someone was standing there.

Evie didn't look up from their work until Tosh walked in looking dazed. Without noticing the expression Evie called Tosh over to help them with everything they were working on. Tosh had an intimate knowledge of the Rift Manipulator (having virtually created it herself), and she would be able to advance their work by hours in a few minutes because Evie or Eugene would over look something that was intrinsic to the manipulator itself.

This went on for hours on end. Numbers and letters and symbols flowing past them in an endless stream and finally Evie just put her head down on her desk and started crying.

No one knew what to do with her. Jack wanted to pull her into his arms, but that would likely jut leave him with a black eye and Evie feeling worse than ever. Eugene wanted to do roughly the same thing, but he was fairly sure that he would get a black eye from Jack for trying. Tosh and Gwen both wanted to pull her from the computer and put her on the couch to take a nap, but knew she would get right back up to go to her equations. Ianto, Emma, and Andy were all for sending her home, but thought she would likely just cry more there, because it was the flat she bought with Jack.

Finally Evie looked up from her tears to find everyone gathered around her worriedly looking unsure and she let out a bitter laugh.

"There's only two things to do," Evie told them, "We either let it go on, let it heal itself, deal with things as they come. Or we do the most risky thing I've ever heard suggested."

"What?" Gwen asked quietly looking at the younger woman with compassion.

"Open the Rift," Evie replied bluntly, "We can't though. If we did, it would unleash even more havoc into the city and the world in general for hours, maybe days, before things began to calm again. The Rift would be more active than ever. It will me months or even years before it goes back to how it was before all of this."

Evie started laughing as though her mind was completely gone.

"All it'll take to destroy the world is love, and cheating on a girlfriend," Evie forced out tears running down her face as she laughed.

No one said anything. They didn't need to.

_**XX**_

When Evie finally calmed herself down she removed herself from the action. She knew that she was in no fit state to deal with any of this. So she took herself down to the cells and attempted to use her little bit of broken Latin to speak to the Roman solider. His rage against everything was so refreshing after the worry and doubt and focus going on upstairs.

Evie was completely removed from things until Gwen and Jack came down and placed none other than Rhys in the cell next to the Roman. Evie stared at them a long while before turning back to the Roman and saying, "hic laboro."

Gwen stood in front of Rhys' cell and just stared into the plexi-glass door.

"He's in more danger here than the rest of the world you know," Evie said quietly when she lost track of what the Roman was saying, "We're right on the middle of the Rift, that's why the rift manipulator is where it is."

"I saw him die," Gwen said quietly after a pause.

"Don't trust your dreams, they lie to you. I know," Evie told her in barely more than a whisper, "My dreams said I would marry Jack. We would have two little girls and they'd share the extra bedroom in the flat. The Rift would be quiet for a while, and Jack and I would travel the world, seeing everything. When the girls were old enough Jack would take me out into the stars, show me the wonders of the universe."

"It could still happen," Gwen told her gently looking like there was more she really wanted to say, but she didn't have the nerve.

"No it can't," Evie denied, "I saw it again, a flash of knowing everything just a moment ago. Something's about to go very very wrong, and I don't know how to change it."

Just then Rhys woke and was not happy to find himself in a cell.

"What am I doing here?" Rhys demanded looking around wildly.

"You're at Torchwood. Things have gone badly, I'm protecting you," Gwen told him gently, like one would talk to a sick child.

"Why am I in a cell then? Why can't I be upstairs where everything is being fixed?' Rhys demanded angrily. They hadn't walked Rhys through the cells on his tour, but they had told him they were there, and what they were used for.

"Because, nothing is being done right now," Gwen replied looking lost, "Nothing can be done. Evie's given up and Tosh and Eugene are lost in an ocean of physics without her." Evie felt a twinge of guilt at that. But she knew undeniably that there was nothing to be done. There was absolutely no way they could fix any of this. They would have to keep on putting plasters until the wounds underneath began to heal. They'd just have to hope there would be no infections.

"Is it really the end of the world then?" Rhys asked and Evie wanted to scream 'Yes! This was it, this was how the world was going to end because nothing could stop it!' But this was a conversation between him and Gwen and Evie had no business butting into it.

"No," Gwen asserted fiercely, "Not if I have anything to say about it!"

"Then let me out. I'll sit on the couch and be out of the way," Rhys pleaded, but Gwen just shook her head and left.

As Gwen turned to leave Rhys called after her, "You can't leave me here alone!"

"You're not alone," Evie said quietly inching over to sit on the floor in front of Rhys, "I'll keep you company because I'm no good for anything else right now. Because you see, there's no way to save the world this time."

"Then you don't agree with Gwen?" Rhys asked sitting down on the bench in the cell.

"No," Evie told him, "I've run every equation I've ever heard of, and invented a few myself and there's nothing we can do but sit it out and hope things begin to heal. We won't even know if it works for a long while yet. I'm just waiting for them to realize."

The two sat in companionable silence for a long while before Evie looked up curiously as though she had heard something Rhys had no idea of, and with a rueful smile, she collapsed sideways in a faint. The expression on her face said something like "I should have known this was coming."

_**XX**_

When Evie came around to was to the sound of Gwen wailing. This wasn't just a 'shit what just happened' kind of wailing either. This was a heart wrenching scream of depression and a loss that could never be recovered from.

When Evie opened her eyes she was sorrowed, but not surprised to find Rhys dead and Gwen clutching his body as though it was all that was keeping her from flying off the surface of the earth. Evie was even less surprised to find Jack standing over her looking concerned and for just a moment she was sure everything would be fine again between them. She could forgive him and he could move back into the flat and someday her dream would really happen.

But then it was gone and the wounds from the betrayal were bleeding again and Evie sat up edging away from Jack as she did so. Jack gave her a questioning look and she shook her head a little and stood up helping Gwen to stand, and taking half of Rhys' weight into her arms.

The two women carried Rhys to the Medical Bay and laid him on the cold metal table where so many cadavers and dead aliens had been laid before. Gwen sat on the stool next to table and stared at Rhys' face looking catatonic as Evie used alcohol swabs to clean the blood from Gwen's hands and the smudges of it on her face.

Ianto, Jack and Tosh all climbed down into the Medical Bay and watched silently. Not a word was said, and it seemed as if none of them were breathing. Everything was hanging by a thread and it was only a matter of time before something broke the stillness and Evie was convinced that when it was broken everything would fall apart before she knew it.

It seemed that the world was about to end and there was nothing any of them would ever be able to do to stop it. That very fact made Evie want to cry. They had all become her family and as Evie cleaned Gwen's hands and watched as Gwen's mind seemed to fade further and further away, she realized that she hadn't bothered to call Alice or Steven. She hadn't heard from them either, and Jack was down as next of kin to both of them in all the official records, but just the same they should have checked on them.

But was it even Evie's place anymore? Everything was ruined between her and Jack now, and it didn't seem like there was any point anymore. But still…She loved Steven like he was her nephew, or much younger brother or something of that sort. Alice had become a confidant that she could depend on and she couldn't imagine losing them too.

The stillness in the Medical Bay was finally broken as Owen clattered down the stairs. Evie hadn't even realized he wasn't there. But Tosh seemed surprised to see him and Evie couldn't help but wonder what all she had missed while she had hidden down in the cells listening to Latin chatter and feeling bad for herself.

"This is what happens here," Gwen said suddenly without looking to anyone in the room. She just kept staring at Rhys with an insipid smile on her face as though she were watching him sleep. Then she looked up at Tosh and Ianto and gave them a smile that chilled Evie to the bone, "We all end up alone. Not me. No way."

There was a little pause as no one wanted to say anything to anyone Gwen had said hit a little too close to home to let any of them be comfortable. Ianto lost Lisa to Torchwood One, Tosh lost her family to Torchwood Three, Owen lost his fiance to an alien, and his most recent girlfriend to the Rift, and Jack and Evie had lost each other to time.

There was not a single person in that room who was not lonely right then. Tosh was in love with Owen, but he couldn't move past Diane. Evie and Jack loved each other, but Evie could not move past Jack's beatrayal. And not Rhys was dead because Gwen worked for Torchwood. Most likely he would have survived if she had never taken this job.

"You bring him back," Gwen said quietly looking over to Jack.

"No," Jack said firmly shaking his head, and backing away from her.

"The resurrection gauntlet..." Gwen said sounding years older than she had only an hour ago.

"Was destroyed," Ianto replied.

"Something else," Gwen said in her own world.

"I said no," Jack said more loudly, and firmly trying to make his point get through to the grief-stricken woman.

"No, there's something wrong with time, so we, we can go back to the moment, to the very moment..." Gwen said suggesting that instead.

"It's too dangerous Gwen," Evie said trying to grab hold of Gwen's hand again to continue cleaning it off, but Gwen wrenched her hand away violently.

"There's something you can do," Gwen asserted her voice rising the more she spoke, "otherwise WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT OF YOU?"

Evie flinched away from Gwen dropping the alcohol swab in her hand to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Evie whispered backing away from Gwen seeing the pain in her eyes again. But it wasn't Evie Gwen was addressing, but Jack.

As Gwen continued speaking she flung herself across the room at Jack beating his chest with her arms and sobbing as she screamed at him, her voice breaking, "You, you bring him back! Bring him back! You bring him back! Do you understand me, Jack-fucking-Harkness?"

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry," Jack muttered wrapping his arms around Gwen, and for once Evie felt no jealousy as she watched Jack and Gwen together. Now she only wished someone could hold her like that and make all her pain go away.

Evie wasn't arrogant enough to think hers and Gwen's pain were on the same level. Evie had lost Jack, but he was still there, she could see him every day, speak with him, he could, perhaps, one redeem himself and she could have him back. But Gwen this was the end. After this there would be no more Rhys. There would be phone calls full of sobbing to tell his family, and there would be funeral preparations and mourning black, and if Gwen didn't quit Torchwood Evie would be surprised.

"How many other people have got to suffer?" Owen finally spoke up watching Gwen sob and wail in Jack's arms. No one replied to his question.

"I'm gonna fix this. I'm opening the rift," Owen said angrily and run back up the stairs.

"Owen no!" Evie called after him, but he had already turned the corner and she couldn't see him anymore. Ianto followed after Owen slowly, taking the steps one at a time, almost ponderously.

"Make sure you stop him," Jack ordered looking up at Ianto on the stairs. Ianto stopped and Evie knew he had no intention of stopping Owen from doing anything.

"No," Ianto said and continued up the stairs past Tosh. As soon as he had passed her Tosh followed saying, "We're gonna help him."

Gwen tore herself from Jack's arms and ran up the stairs after them. But unlike the others she stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down to Jack and said, "Bilis was right, he said open the rift and everything goes back to normal. Owen's right. I'm going to get Rhys back."

"Are you going to follow them?" Jack asked looking over at Evie who was leaning against the wall behind her as if it was all that was keeping her upright.

"Whether I do or not, the world is ending. I might as well let it," Evie said and leaned her head back to touch the wall, and closed her eyes.

Evie wasn't stupid. She knew that in all likelyhood Emma, Eugene, and Andy would find some reason to join the rebellion, and they would come looking for her. Evie had set up the security systems, they couldn't access the Rift Manipulator without Jack's access code, and they couldn't activate the Rift Manipulator without hers, and there was a different one for each day of the week, and a secondary access code according to how much Rift Activity had happened in the last 24 hours. Then the emergency system would activate (because of the splintering of time across the world) and they would need a third code as well as a retina scan of her right eye, and her thumbprint. They would also need a retina scan of Jack's, and each of the other employees of Torchwood.

When Evie opened her eyes Jack was gone and she could hear them arguing on the upper floor.

"You're a united front now? Toshiko, the poor girl who'll screw any passing alien that gives her a pendant? Owen, so strong, he gets in a cage with a Weevil, desperate to be mauled. Or Ianto, hiding his cyber-girlfriend in the basement. Your three comrades here pumped bullets into her, remember?" Jack was saying in a taunting manner and Evie wondered if he wanted them to shoot him. It would be something he would do. Let them kill him in order to keep them from getting his code and retina scan.

"I've got to get Rhys back," Gwen said her voice breaking just a little on Rhys' name.

"Yeah, cos you're so in love with Rhys that you spend half your time lusting after Owen," Jack taunted and Evie knew he had gone too far. She had seen the looks between the two, but they had never acted on it. Gwen really did love Rhys, and Owen was completely in love with Diane and all that was between the two was a friendly camaraderie and a bit of physical attraction.

"Fuck you!" Gwen shouted, and Evie could hear a loud thud that she assumed was Gwen punching Jack, and Jack falling to the ground.

"We're relieving you of your command, "Captain". We're opening that rift and getting back what we lost!" Owen yelled out and Evie heard someone typing on a keyboard. They were about to need her cooperation, and they weren't going to get it.

"Shit!" Gwen yelled and there was a slam like she hit something, "We need Evie's authorization code."

"She's not going to give it to you," Jack said so quietly Evie wasn't sure she heard him.

"She doesn't have to all her codes are recorded on her computer," Tosh suggested calmly.

"Yeah, but can you get into her computer to find them?" Jack asked with something that sounded like laughter in his voice.

A moment later someone was clattering back down the stairs and Evie looked over to find Andy standing there.

"I'm not going to tell you," Evie told him looking him straight to his honest looking face.

"Give me a hint?" Andy asked looking like he was thinking of begging,

"If that's what you want…" Evie said with a smirk knowing they would never figure it out, "Today's Friday right? Right so the thing which makes the Doctor's TARDIS dimensionally transcendental is the first code you'll need. Then you'll need the name of the seventh book on the third shelf of my bookshelf number eight followed by Jack's birthday. Then you'll need "I fear death" in Latin followed my older brother's birthday."

"Can we ask the roman for the Latin?" Andy asked after a long pause.

"If you can speak Latin you're welcome to it," Evie replied cavalierly. Then she slid down and sat against the wall behind her. A moment later Andy was clattering back up the stairs and Evie listened as he relayed the clues.

Then she whispered to herself, "mortem timeo. I fear losing Jack too."

_**XX**_

A while later there was more shouting followed by what was undeniably a gunshot. Evie knew immediately who had been shot and she crouched in on herself crying inconsolably. When Andy and Gwen came down to retrieve her to try and get her retina scan and fingerprint she didn't even bother to stop them, but as soon as she saw Jack lying on the ground she tore from their grasps and pulled Jack onto her lap.

"ExoticParticles, Hamlet04095093, and mortemtimeo30121974? Why those combinations?" Tosh muttered as Owen took retina scans of the teams' eyes.

"Because they made sense to me," Evie snapped looking up at them all with a glint in her eye that said she was contemplating murder.

"I need you thumbprint and retina scan," Owen said crouching down to be on eye-level with Evie.

"I'm not helping you," Evie said pulling Jack closer to her body.

Owen leaned over and took a retina scan of both her and Jack before prying away Evie's hands and scanning both thumbs to make sure they got the right scan.

"I'm not helping you clean up when the world ends either," Evie muttered as Gwen entered the last code and the retina scans, and thumbprint.

There was one last message after Gwen had finally entered everything saying: WARNING PROTOCOL ACTIVATION WILL ENDANGER TORCHWOOD INFRASTRUCTURE. Gwen looked at everyone and Evie made sure to meet her eyes and give her the very best glare she could manage and just as Gwen hit enter Jack jerked in Evie's grip coming alive again.

But Evie didn't have time to worry about Jack because the world started to shake just then and they were in danger of being hit by those lovely new beams that the men from UNIT installed. Then Andy and Ianto were trying to pull Jack from Evie's grip so they could all make it out of the hub, but Evie wouldn't let go of him and insisted on being one to the two people supporting much of Jack's weight to help him get out.

As they rushed out to the cog door Evie caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of a blue electrical light following the line of the water tower up. But it was just a glimpse, and at the same time another beam was falling from the ceiling and Evie was being rushed by Ianto on Jack' s other side.

Ianto grabbed hold of Jack's greatcoat as they passed and Evie felt like groaning over that fact half thinking that Ianto would go chasing after his coffee machine, or something equally stupid. After all Jack does have four other greatcoats in the hub itself and Evie had one she had stashed away in her flat.

They finally made it out of the hub and were running down the street to get away from the center of the small quakes running through the city when they spot none other than Bilis Manger standing in the middle of the road.

"From out of the darkness, he is come," Bilis announced catching sight of them in the road.

"What is he talking about?" Gwen asked rather stupidly, but Evie remembered a snippet of Ianto's doomsday readings early that morning, and she had heard that bit.

"Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the rift," Bilis continued as if Gwen hadn't spoken at all, "All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer. Come to feast on life."

Bilis was looking past them as he spoke and they all found themselves turning to look at the beast looming over the city. The world was shaking with every step it took, there were car horns blaring and people screaming and beneath it all were the terrible sense of silence, of voices that had stopped screaming.

"The whole world shall die beneath his shadow," Bilis pronounced sounding as though the sight of Abaddon had sent him into ecstasy, "I look upon you, my god, and know my work is done."

With that Bilis was gone, and none of them had even had a chance to try to kill him, or lock him up, and all through the city people were dying as the shadow of the giant creature fell on them. It seemed to be a terrible death, but at the same time it was most likely almost peaceful; a death without pain.

"How do we stop it? Tell me what to do, Jack," Gwen begged of the man, but Evie was the one to reply.

"After everything you've done today you turn and look at Jack for help? Gwen, where is your logic?" Evie asked sounding close to tears, and truthfully she was close to tears.

Jack paused for a moment staring at Abaddon before looking over the team and he turned to Gwen and told her, "Just you ... get me to an open space."

"Jack," Evie started reaching for him, but he just looked at her for a moment and let Gwen lead him away.

_**XX**_

Evie watched the skyline as Abaddon headed away from the city, towards an open space outside the main part of the city where people were unlikely to be. It would be Jack luring them.

Evie had figured out his plan only moments after he had left with Gwen, and she wished she had properly fixed things before that. Jack couldn't die, so he was offering up his life in the hopes that Abaddon would gorge himself so much it would kill him.

So Evie watched as Abaddon convulsed with blue light, fell, and disappeared. Jack had won, but Evie was left lonely waiting for the SUV to drive up and Jack to hop out as if he hadn't died at all and kiss her and they could make everything better, because Evie couldn't stand to lose him.

But when the SUV drove up it was a solemn Gwen and Jack's body that were pulled out of it. Gwen was sent home to check after Rhys, and Evie followed Jack's body into the hub where he was placed on the metal table in the Medical Bay where Rhys had been not that long ago.

Evie sat next to him and refused to move. She was going to be there when he came back to life and she was going to fix everything before anything could go wrong again. Evie sent Ianto to pick up Jack's things from the room where he had been living the last two days, and Emma went with him to take them back to the flat. Evie wasn't going to let him stay away from her any longer.

Evie slept on the medical bed at night, and sat on a stool next to Jack during the day. She didn't eat or drink unless someone brought something down to her, and it was a chore getting her into the shower and clean clothes every morning.

It was five full days.

Jack had never stayed dead this long before and Evie knew the others were whispering. They said he should be placed in the morgue, he wasn't going to wake up, he was dead for good this time. She also heard them talking about her. She's going to follow him, she'll kill herself if he doesn't wake, we mustn't worry her any more, she's got enough on her plate.

Then it was another day.

But that day Evie was half asleep lying her head on Jack's chest when she heard it. A sudden beat, and another, and another. His chest was rising and falling and Evie looked up and Jack was looking at her. It was such an expression of tender care that Evie leaned over, without a single thought, and kissed him. A good proper kiss.

"I'm sorry," Evie whispered knowing that Jack would hear her.

"You don't need to be. _I'm_ sorry. It was all my fault. You should be able to trust me and because I'm an idiot you couldn't. I promise, not a kiss not a flirt, nothing. You, only you," Jack told her gingerly sitting up and brushing a tear from Evie's cheek.

"I love you, Jack," Evie told him with a watery smile, "I'm never letting you go again. These last six days have been the worst of my life. Far worse than when I realized that nothing I remembered had happened."

"When you didn't let me hug you, when I realized you had seen me was the worst moment of my life. I never want to be without you again," Jack said pulling Evie into a fierce hug.

"Then you won't be," Evie replied into his shoulder.

_**XX**_

Even though Jack was alive again it was close to three hours before either of them left the Medical Bay. Evie went up first, and the entire team was convinced that she must have finally given up, and they would have to watch for suicidal tendencies. But then they saw Jack on the stairs right behind her and he was being hugged by three crazy women, and the men weren't far behind.

Everyone got a hug from Jack, and Ianto handed over the greatcoat, which Jack shrugged into happily the moment it reached his hands. Evie smiled at them indulgently. She knew it was the coat she had left on her bed that day before she came to work.

Evie took the coat back and handed him a different one before shrugging into it herself with a grin. They all laughed, but Jack joked that they should have the coat taken in and Evie could keep it. Evie admitted she rather liked the idea of a retro military coat that swished around her legs like his.

Ianto went out to get coffee because, unfortunately, his coffee maker had been squished by one of the fallen beams, and he would have to completely replace it. It was then that Gwen managed to corner Jack and Evie both into a conversation.

"What's happened to the rift?" Gwen asked as a starter.

"It closed up when Abaddon was destroyed. But it'll be busier than ever around here. A little less so than a few days ago, but life will be busy for a while, make sure you warn Rhys. He won't be happy if you take on more hours and him without a clue," Evie replied calmly. She was sitting as close as she could to Jack without being on top of him, and seemed to have no notion to move.

"The visions we had. We all saw people we loved. What did you see?" Gwen asked looking between both of them.

"Nothing was shown to me," Evie told her with a little shake of the head, "I doubt anything would tempt me to open the Rift."

"Nothing for me either," Jack said with a shake of the head.

"What would have tempted you? What visions would have convinced you to open the rift?" Gwen asked looking for some kind of response that would prove they were just as volatile as the rest.

"I'm not sure anything would," Evie said just as Jack replied, "The right kind of Doctor."

Jack stood up and Evie followed close on his heels.

"Will you leave me?" Evie asked nervously.

"What?" Jack asked incredulously turning to look at her.

"If the Doctor walked through the door right now would you leave me?" Evie asked again.

"No," was Jack's reply. They both looked at each other for a very long moment and Evie heard it. A faint beeping. It was the hand that Jack had long ago confided to Evie was the Doctor's.

There was a choice to be made. This was a crossroads. Evie knew which way to turn and she didn't know why, but she knew it was going to her an awful lot.

"Go," Evie said softly.

Jack jerked around to look at Evie in shock. Evie nodded to the jar with the hand bubbling in pulsing light.

"Take it. Go see the Doctor, and get your answers. I can hold down the fort while you're gone," Evie told him gently. She picked up the jar set it in Jack's arms and pushed him to the invisible lift. Jack stood on the lift looking at Evie uncertainly. Evie pressed the red button and sent him away.

She knew now that he would always come back for her.

_**XX**_

Evie went back to the flat right after that and saw that Jack's apology flowers had wilted, but she didn't need them anymore. So she tossed the flowers out and washed the vase and put it into the cupboard about the stove.

Evie made herself dinner and ate it watching TV with Penny trying to snitch a bite to eat every other moment. It was all very calm and homey.

It was nearly eight when Evie finally got up the courage to call Alice.

"Hello?" Alice asked answering the phone.

"Hey, Alice? It's Evie," Evie said trying to sound as calm as possible.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked worriedly, and Evie knew she had failed miserably at sounding fine.

"Nothing's really wrong anymore," Evie told her, but her heart wasn't in it. She had sent Jack away, but she wanted to have him near her. It was odd that before she had never been this clingy, "But Jack's gone away. He should be back pretty soon, but I won't even try to guess a day. Probably within the next month or so."

"Where's he gone?" Alice asked and Evie could see her furrowing her brow in her mind's eye.

"To get the answers he's been looking for from long before even you were born," Evie admitted, "The Doctor made a stop in Cardiff, and Jack's gone off with him."

"But he'll be back won't he?" Alice asked worriedly. Evie doubted a year ago that Alice would even have asked that question in that tone of voice.

"I'm sure of it. He has me and you and Steven and the team to come back to," Evie told her in a placating tone of voice, "I know he'll be back."

_**XX**_

_**So…this chapter is about the same length as the last one and took me something like a hundredth of the amount of time the last took me. Which makes me rather angry really.**_

_**The next chapter will be covering the fallout of Jack leaving and the Rift opening. It will cover about a month and a half between the end of The End of Days and where the Year that Never Was begins. Then there will be a full chapter about the Year that Never Was, then we'll see Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.**_

_**I was so happy to how many people didn't abandon me because of my long break. I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry about that.**_

_**It will please some of you to see that Jack and Evie are together again (that was the shortest breakup I've ever written, but I couldn't see Evie not trying to resolve things when she had come so close to losing everything for good when it looked like Jack was really dead). I've been hinted at another relationship that I've been building up, but I doubt we'll see it flourish until probably late season 2. Yes, I am really an Owen/Tosh shipper, and it will be happening. Owen needs to recover properly from Diane first, so I won't be rushing anything.**_

_**The sweet lovely BiJane, and the ever observant TwiCloiser89 get the dedication for this chapter. They are two of my favorite reviewers and BiJane was long since promoted to my muse. I doubt I would have gotten this done as quickly as I did without the two of them.**_


	16. Waiting, Watching, and Revelations

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is after The End of Days, Doctor Who should be after Utopia through Here Come the Drums, and The Sarah Jane Adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

Evie had managed to avoid explain what had happened yesterday at work, but now she would have to give the full explanation. To shore up her courage she wore that greatcoat of Jack's from the day before.

When Evie walked into the tourist office it was to find Emma working quietly and Ianto delivering a mug of piping hot tea to the young woman. Evie greeted them and told them that once everyone had straggled in for the day they would have a meeting about what to do about the state of the hub.

So Evie made it down to the main floor to find that Andy was cleaning up wreckage over on his side of the office area while Tosh did the same for their side. Evie joined them both rushing from one side to the other getting sweaty carrying around the bigger bits of wreckage that Tosh couldn't handle. When Gwen came in she joined in. Owen, as usual, was the last to straggle in and when he did Ianto started herding them all into the conference room he had just spent the last hour cleaning of glass (the windows would have to be replaced soon, likely they'd have to call in UNIT guys again). When they were all gathered Ianto served tea and coffee and there was a moment of awkward silence.

"Where's Jack then? I didn't think you'd let him out of your sight after what happened," Gwen asked finally to break the silence.

"He's gone travelling with the Doctor," Evie replied. There were cried of upset from all the members of the team before Evie could explain.

"Why's he left us?" Emma asked worriedly, "Is it because of us opening the Rift? I didn't think he'd leave?"

"No, Jack had been waiting for the Doctor for a very long time. Something happened when he was travelling with him before. He needs to know what. He wasn't going to leave, and I made him," Evie explained firmly, "None of you are to blame. Maybe Owen, you did shoot him. But then again he says he forgives you, so I'm inclined to believe it."

"So, he'll be back?" Gwen asked looking at the younger woman in a way that could almost be called shy.

"Yes," Evie replied firmly, "Now. We'll need to do something about this mess."

"Like what?" Andy asked loudly, "We've already been clearing out rubble all morning, what else do we do?"

"I was thinking of asking those nice UNIT men to come back and do some reconstructive work, like new windows for the Conference Room and new beams where a couple fell in. That sort of stuff. It shouldn't take them more than a day or two to finish," Evie explained calmly. Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement.

"I'm wondering something," Andy said after a moment as Evie wrote a not to herself to call UNIT, "Has there always been a clear chain of command here?"

"Not really clear, but clear enough. Why?" Evie replied cryptically.

"Well I was just wondering why you're second-in-command," Andy said carelessly, "It seems like someone who does admin like Emma, or me, or the lead field person like Gwen should be in charge, not the lead scientist."

"Everyone here has at least two hats. Well, save Emma, she just works in paperwork. But everyone else. I'm second-in-command because I'm the second most useful in the field. I can kick your ass and toss you in a cell and I can analyze alien tech as we find it. Then it goes by seniority. Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Gwen, Emma, and you sit right at the bottom for now. For the time being we don't need to be fighting over who's in charge, because I've been second-in-command close to three years now," Evie told him quietly butt surely, "If you want to fight over who's the boss you can take up with the queen because she personally approved my appointment as second three years ago."

There was silence from around the table so Evie stood and drained her tea before stepping out of the room and heading over to Jack's office to make the call to UNIT.

_**XX**_

It took two days of running through official channels before she was finally put in touch with someone who was allowed to organize a construction group to come and fix up the hub for them. In the meantime the team caught twenty Weevils, found twelve alien artifacts, chased down one blowfish, and found two people from the 51st century wandering around the city like tourists.

The two people from the 51st century tugged on Evie's heartstrings because they had a number of mannerisms that mimicked Jack's. Evie tried to explain to them that they would have to find a way to get in touch with the time agency of the 51st century because there was no way for them to send them home, but the two protested and eventually E vie had to let them go off and do whatever it was they were going to do, but she requested that they leave Cardiff because there was enough damage going on there anyway without two people with potent pheromones wandering about.

When UNIT came it took them two days to set everything to rights and only Emma was there for very long while they were working; everyone else was running in and out to deal with something or other coming through the Rift. The guys from UNIT did exceptionally anyway, and Evie thanked them profusely when they came into Jack's office (where Evie had taken up residence for the time being) and told her everything was finished.

After that though things got hostile between Evie and Andy much to the blonde's confusion. Andy frequently refused to do as Evie said, and when he did it was only because it was the only possible course of action. Ianto informed Evie that several times when Evie was out dealing with the most recent emergency Andy had tried to take things over. It was well over two weeks before Evie had a chance to confront him about it.

"Andy," Evie said from a few feet away from the man one afternoon when things were relatively slow (oh how fast definitions change, it used to be a slow day was no rift activity, now it meant there were only a few Weevils to chase down).

"Yes?" Andy asked turned about in his chair.

"Come talk with me, it's well over due," Evie told him leading him up to Jack's office.

"What do we have to talk about?" Andy asked looking like an honest and open guy, but apparently not as much as Evie had originally thought him to be, "I haven't noticed anything wrong."

"Why are you being so insubordinate?" Evie asked straight out, "Why don't you listen to me?"

"Because you're so damn young! What can you know about leading?" Andy asked heatedly.

"I've been working here well over two years longer than you, and I've been second-in-command for most of that time. Do you think I wouldn't have lead anyone at all in that time?" Evie asked sitting back in Jack's leather office chair.

"That's not the point," Andy grumbled, "The point is you're…what? 24, 25?"

"I'll be 27 in May," Evie told him looking him straight in the eyes, "And that doesn't matter. Ianto won't be 25 for another several months, you're only 30. Gwen is 29, and Tosh 32. Why is any of this important. Age is a number. If we were going by age you wouldn't be leading anyway. It would be Owen who is all of two month older than Tosh and will be 33 before her. You don't want Owen leading do you?"

"No,"

"Who do you want in charge? Yourself. You don't have a chance there. You've only been here four months," Evie told him, "Gwen? She's only been around 10 months, she hasn't got much of a chance either."

"No, I want a democratic solution, everyone working together," Andy said sounding like he though himself the angel of reason.

"Really?" Evie asked with a little chuckle, "Did you see how well that worked last time? You shot Jack, then left Jack to sacrifice his life to save all your arses. He was dead for six days. He has never stayed dead that long before. I know, he's gotten around to describing most of them to me."

"But he just pops back to life every time," Andy argued, "It's not like we did him permanent harm."

"Just because he's immortal you think dying doesn't hurt him?" Evie asked fire in her eyes and venom in her words, "He feels every death with the same intensity as anyone else. Then he has to dragged back, frequently kicking and screaming, to life. Like being pulled over shards of broken glass. Naked. For miles."

There was a long silence as the two stared at each other. Then something seemed to dawn on Andy's face and they stayed in their silent staring contest for a moment longer. Then Andy looked away, and spoke.

"I don't think I saw it like that," Andy admitted.

"Best start to," Evie replied, "He'll be back, and when he comes back you can't expect him to come to save the day every time. He won't be there to dodge in front of every bullet, and I don't want him to."

_**XX**_

The next day Evie got in late, because she was sidetracked by chasing down a rather large monstrous looking alien she spotted on the way to work, and when she got there she came in as close to silently as was possible in the Torchwood hub, and none of the rest of the team heard her coming in.

"—I'm sure now," That was Andy's voice. It sounded like they were all sitting in the kitchen (where a table had been added sometime after the first renovation by UNIT).

"Really?" Tosh asked sounding surprised, "We've been telling you from the beginning that Evie's a very capable woman with a lot of talent in the way of leading as well as science."

"What did she say?" Gwen asked sounding curious, "I've seen how hard it can be to change your mind."

"I said democracy was the best way to run things and she brought up the incident with Bilis and Abaddon and everything. Said Jack was dead longer than he ever had been before because of us. I asked her why that was a big deal because he comes back every time. She told me that Jack…that he is in just as pain as he dies as anyone else, and that it was just as painful to come back to life everytime. I just realized that she doesn't want to lead."

"And that's what recommended her to you? She doesn't want to lead?" Owen asked seeming to be trying to figure out how this was a revelation.

"No, it's that she doesn't want to lead, but she leads like Jack does, She's just holding his place till he can return. She knows we're not as good without him, and she thoroughly intends us to be in top shape when he does return. She _cares_ what happens to all of us," Andy explained and Evie found herself shaking her head at him. It was all true of course, but it was just funny how he makes her sound like an angel.

There was a moment of silence and then Ianto and Gwen both started laughing hysterically, when asked why they were laughing Ianto replied, "Of course she cares about us! She's frequently called the lot of us her family. No doubt she has titles for you and Emma by now while we're at it."

"Yep," Evie said walking into the kitchen, "Emma's another little sister, to join Tosh, but Andy…well, you're probably a little brother. The kind you just want to hit sometimes because they're so annoying, but you can't help but think they're cute the rest of the time."

"How long have you been listening?" Tosh asked and Evie could tell she was wondering where she fit, because it obviously had nothing to do with age.

"Well, little sister, I heard all of touting my praises. Which was very sweet by the way," Evie told her with a grin before turning to the fridge and opening it while saying, "I'm starving I just spent my morning chasing down some weird alien that hadn't a clue where he was. He was scaring all the little kids."

As everyone laughed Evie sat down and everything seemed back to normal and she expected Jack to come wandering begging for coffee and she remembered. He was off with the Doctor.

_**XX**_

Two weeks after that Harrold Saxon was Elected as the new Prime Minister. Evie wasn't happy about it, but she knew she'd have to deal with it because the man was fairly elected, and everyone seemed to like him, except for her. She knew for a fact that the rest of Torchwood had all voted for him, and so had Eugene, Cathy, and Alice. Evie hadn't called up Sarah-Jane but she had a feeling that she had probably voted for him as well.

But in the two weeks before that Saxon had been calling Torchwood up much to Evie's disgust.

The Minister of Defense was only supposed to be aware of Torchwood, they had no real power over any member of Torchwood, let alone the leader or acting leader of Torchwood. But Harold Saxon seemed to be so sure that when he said jump Evie would say 'how high.'

Evie got into a couple of arguments with Gwen over all of this. Gwen though they should go check out whatever it was in the Himalayas that Saxon was so sure needed to be taken care of, but Evie pointed out how busy the Rift was and Torchwood no longer had jurisdiction outside of the UK, except under orders from the Queen or her secretary.

It ended in Evie losing her patience and sending Gwen, Andy, Ianto, Owen, and Tosh to deal with whatever it was in the Himalayas and she would stay in Cardiff watching the Rift with Emma. Needless to say the two days between sending them off and Saxon winning elections were the hardest of her life.

The day of the announcement that Saxon had won by a long shot Evie wasn't watching the news, she was instead chasing down a Weevil. In middle of all this her comm beeped. Normally this wasn't a big deal, she just needed to charge it, except this was more of a ding and Evie had specially programmed her comm to make that noise when Jack was in range, which was anywhere in the British Isles and some areas of mainland Europe.

So Evie caught the Weevil in record speed and won herself four new speeding tickets getting back to the hub. Emma turned and stared at her as she came rushing in.

"Emma! Could you get that Weevil for me? I need to check this." Evie yelled as she rushed to her computer station and started plugging in access codes to reach the encrypted beacon she had installed on Jack's coat. She wasn't stupid after all, she knew that Jack was waiting for the Doctor, so during her six day vigil she had installed several encrypted beacons and GPS locators on Jack's greatcoat, and that was why she had switched which coat Jack was given when he woke.

Jack was in London. Evie could get to London in an hour if she rushed. It was a no brainer where she was headed.

"Emma! Forget the Weevil call Cardiff Police and tell them we're out of town. Call me if something big comes up!" Evie called pulling on Jack's Greatcoat (which she had dropped off at a tailor's several weeks before, and gotten back only the week before, well fitted to her body), and her keys and her bag full of alien detecting equipment.

Without even thinking about it Evie got right back into the same SUV she had just left with a sedated Weevil in the back and started driving.

_**XX**_

As Evie drove she heard Saxon's speech and she felt like hitting herself. Saxon knew the Doctor somehow. It was no wonder he was fascinated by Torchwood, they had been created the fight the Doctor after all (even though it was more like helping him these days). It was Saxon's second broadcast that scared her. Not only did he know the Doctor, he knew Martha Jones, and _that_ was not good at all.

When Evie reached London it was to find Jack's signal running all over the city, so she chased it in the SUV, and finally caught up with them as they ditched their car under a bridge.

"Captain Jack Harkness!" Evie called out pulling her door open as she pulled up in front of them, "Do you know how late you are?"

"Evie!" The Doctor called excitedly running up to the car. When the Doctor came within range it was only so Evie could slap him, "What'd you do that for?"

"Don't you know how to steer your damn time machine?" Evie asked angrily, "I hold you just as responsible as Jack."

"How much trouble am I in?" Jack asked coming up close, even though he was a bit scared of getting slapped as well. He had obviously missed her.

"Less than him," Evie said jerking her thumb at the Doctor and climbing out of the car to meet Jack in a kiss.

"This is sweet and everything but would you all shut up?" Martha asked dialing her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Evie asked worriedly, "I doubt any phones are safe. In fact I doubt even our comms are particularly safe Saxon's been calling. For weeks. Trying to send us away, to the Himalayas, I finally let them go check it out; I was tired of arguing with Gwen."

"I have to call my brother. Warn him," Martha told her and a moment later her tone of voice changed, into worried almost panicky, "Leo! Thank God Leo! Don't go home. You can't go home. Go to Boxer's, or…or leave the country, or anything at all. You just have to—Saxon!"

"Give me the phone," the Doctor ordered pulling it from Martha's fingers, "Master."

"What did I miss here?" Evie asked looking to Jack.

"Saxon is a Time Lord, and he's been manipulating us, he's only been here on earth for eighteen months or so," Jack explained as 'the Master' said something to the Doctor over the phone, "You were right when you said there was something wrong with him."

"Who are those creatures?" The Doctor was asking over the phone, "That's just a made-up name like the Bogeyman."

"Where did you go?" Evie asked Jack looking up at him.

"The end of the Universe," Jack replied grabbing hold of Evie hand. Evie squeezed in back watching at the Doctor paced.

"Did you find your answers there?" Evie asked him.

"Yes," Jack replied, "Sort of. The Doctor's not exactly the clearest person I've ever met."

"I can understand that," Evie replied with a laugh.

Suddenly the Doctor looked right as Evie and said into the phone, "All gone. We're the last ones left."

"What's he talking about?" Evie asked looking between Jack and Martha, both of whom looked horribly uncomfortable, "He's talking about me somehow. What happened?"

"I figured it out," Martha finally admitted.

"Figured out, what?" Evie said looking desperately at the other woman.

"I know why things about your past don't make sense. I figured it when we went to 1913, we were…hiding out I guess. The Doctor had to…had to make himself human. So he could…so he wouldn't be noticed by the aliens chasing us. There's this…device called a Chameleon Arch, and it can rewrite a Time Lord's DNA, so they become a different species. Everything that makes them a Time Lord is hidden, in a fob watch…or something similar. The Doctor's looked a lot like your locket." Martha stumbled through the explanation, like she didn't want to say anything about it. Like she didn't want to admit that any of this could be true.

Evie stumbled backward away from her companions. She stared at them for a long moment before rushing back over to the SUV and pulling the locket from the cup holder where she had placed it before. As she stood there staring at the pattern of circles and lines she felt the same nostalgia she had always felt when looking at it. But now…now it had a whole other meaning.

Who had she been before? Was that why Saxon, or 'the Master' was so fascinated by Torchwood? Did it have nothing to do with the Doctor after all? Was it because she was there?

_**XX**_

They realized that the Master had made them the top four public enemies, but he identified them strangely, as though he didn't care if people knew who they were. The Doctor, the Captain, a Medical Student, and Evie. As though those were their full names but Evie wondered why the Master would call her Evie if he knew she was a Time Lord too. Or was it a Time Lord when you're a girl? Was she a Time…Lady then? She didn't want to think about it.

They took the SUV and hid out in a warehouse out on the edges of the city. Martha went out for food and Evie re-sedated the Weevil in the back of the SUV because it was waking up. Jack was busy starting a fire while the Doctor got some power running from the SUV to Martha's laptop, so they could keep up with everything.

They didn't say a word to each other.

It was raining when Martha came back. But she came back with chips, and bottles of water, and they were all hungry.

"Any news?" Martha asked as she handed out packages of chips.

"I've set up a feed on my vortex manipulator to keep track of any government communications," Jack told her, "We'll be the first to know when they do something."

"I meant about my family," Martha clarified looking over her three companions. Evie was staring at the locket again, turning it over and over again in her hands.

"Still says Jones family taken in for questioning," The Doctor replied looking down at the computer in front of him, "But they don't say a word about Leo in all of this."

"He's not as daft as he looks," Martha replied with something like pride, but then the smile on her face faded and she asked, "We're taking about my brother on the run. How did it come to this?"

"The same way everything happens," Evie said quietly, "Chance. And an occasional choice."

"These are good chips," Jack said obviously changing the subject.

"They are good," The Doctor said popping on in his mouth. Evie and Martha were both just staring at theirs.

"How did you track me down to so fast anyway?" Jack asked looking at Evie.

"You didn't think I was going to send you off to travel the universe without a way to track you down again did you?" Evie asked with the first smile since Martha's revelation, "I put encrypted beacons in two of the buttons on your coat and set my comms to ping me when your comm came back into range."

"You put tracker's on my coat?" Jack asked in mild outrage.

"Of course I did! What else could I count on your never ever leaving behind?" Evie asked raising an eyebrow and seeming her old self again.

"We're sitting here with a psychopathic Time Lord ruling over Great Britain and you two are arguing over a coat?" Martha asked incredulously.

"It's a good coat," The two in question replied in unison. That got laughs out of all four of them.

When they calmed down Jack turned to the Doctor and asked, "Who is this Master anyway?"

"He was a friend," The Doctor began, "At first at least."

"I was afraid you were going to say he was your secret brother or something," Martha said with a chuckle.

There was a pause before the Doctor said anything, "You've been watching too much TV. I had a band of cousins, a little sister, a granddaughter. I only like to acknowledge my sister and granddaughter though. The rest were fairly horrible. I expect my sister would have been too, if she hadn't followed me about when we were little."

"Who am I?" Evie asked looking straight at him.

"If I knew you, you've regenerated since I last saw you," the Doctor admitted, "I don't know your face."

"Who else might have escaped Gallifrey in the end, Theta?" Evie asked and realized herself the name she had used, "I did know you didn't I?"

"It seems you did. Perhaps you were ahead or behind me at the Academy. Of course in that case the Master likely knows you as well," The Doctor admitted as Jack looked uncomfortably between the two. But he didn't say anything.

"What was it like?" Evie asked after a long pregnant pause, "Gallifrey?"

"It was beautiful to look at. Used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. The Time Lords were sworn never to interfere looking over all of time and space. Time Lord children are taken from their families at age eight. I didn't even meet my sister til she was eight, because she was so much younger that I was. When Time Lords and Ladies turn eight we're taken to the untempered schism, a gap in the fabric of reality, to look at the whole of the Vortex. All the power and might of all of time and space arrayed in front of you, and you only a child. Some people when they look at the schism go mad, others are inspired, and some run away. That's where some people say the Master started he was one of those to go mad."

"Which sort were you Doctor?" Martha asked looking at him carefully.

"I ran away of course. Never stopped running," the Doctor replied all the drama of a moment ago lost.

"And which sort do you think I was?" Evie asked tentatively.

"No doubt you were one to be inspired," the Doctor replied casually, "Never felt the urge to go travelling? Run away from your problems? Get away from everything? Nah, you didn't run away. And you see what those that go mad are like from the Master."

Just then there was a beep from Jack's Vortex Manipulator and call over Evie's comms from Emma.

"Evie?" Emma asked tentatively, "There's a file just popped up on my computer screen. Should I open it?"

"No, I've got a computer here I'll do it," Evie told her opening her own laptop, which immediately opened to show the swirling blue screens of the Torchwood network. Three access codes later Evie was staring at a video.

"Play it," Jack said with a nod and Evie hit the button. It was a rather morbid message, the woman who spoke it apparently dead. But the archangel network.

"Is that how Tosh got the comms running across the UK?" Jack asked looking at the satellites.

"No, if she had highjacked the network we would have been able to get it running across the world. No, we've created an encrypted network run over radio waves. We've modulated them specifically so unless you're really looking you can't even find them. Then the encryption can only be opened through a similar code to the ones I use for the Rift Manipulator, but it's a completely different set of codes and it's five layers of codes each layer different according to the day of the week, and the last set of codes if based according to the hour of the day. Then to finish unlocking it you need retina scans of both my eyes and fingerprints from all ten fingers." Evie explained and there was dead silence from the rest of the group.

"You're brilliant," the Doctor cried as Martha said, "You've just made my head hurt."

"You sometimes scare me with the levels your paranoia takes you to," Jack admitted and leaned over to give her a kiss.

"The Master would never think to look for another network system running around the surface of the earth. Because he sent up a satellite network," The Doctor said happily, "He's in the phones! A subtle beat that everyone in the world hears saying 'trust Harold Saxon' 'vote Saxon.' Just a subtle nudge every moment with that beat of four!"

"Why didn't it affect me? Because I'm not human?" Evie asked spitting the last as if she didn't want to contemplate that fact.

"No," the Doctor drew out the sound like it was a ridiculous idea, "No, no, no, no. It wouldn't affect 100% of humans. For all intents you are human. Unless you open that locket you're human. You age, you die, you think like a human. Maybe a bit more brilliant than the average human, but no doubt the really big human geniuses could still beat you out on intelligence."

"So, I'm just too observant? Too untrusting?" Evie asked sounding like she was sitting on the edge of the sword.

"Probably the untrusting," The Doctor said casually and Evie felt something like a knife going through her heart, "Your paranoia wouldn't allow anything else."

But the Doctor was pulling apart Martha's computer and several of Evie's gadgets from her bag and the SUV and putting them back together in a way that Evie felt like she should understand, but she truthfully hadn't a clue.

"I'm sorry," The Doctor said as he finished welding pieces of metal and plastic to the three keys to the TARDIS, "Someone will have to stay behind."

"I'll stay," Evie replied immediately, "I'll and get hold of the rest of the team, recall them from the Himalayas. If not, I'll just watch you three be amazing."

Evie said all of this with a slightly sad smile. Jack drew her away as the Doctor gave Martha a demonstration of the key's new abilities.

"Evie," He started seriously, "Please promise me something."

"What?"

"If something happens…if your life is in danger, open your locket. Please don't die. Don't leave me," Jack asked in something just over a whisper his voice hitching a little.

"But if I do, I will be leaving you," Evie replied, "If I open this locket, I won't be Evie anymore. I'll be someone else completely. I'll have memories of a whole life before all of this. What if I forgot everything I've been through as I've been human. I'd forget you."

"I don't care. I don't care if you're different because you'd be alive. I'm sure you remember everything as a human, so you don't need to worry about forgetting me. Even if you didn't love me anymore, I'll always love you, and I can't stand the idea of losing you," Jack said grabbing both of Evie's hands tight in his own, "Please promise me."

Evie looked up into Jack's bright blue eyes for a very long moment.

"Jack!" The Doctor called from behind them, "We've got to go!"

"Please," Jack begged again. And finally Evie nodded. Jack smiled in relief and leaned over to kiss her, "Call Alice, let her know what's happening, she deserves the truth."

"Of course," Evie said her smile a little watery.

Then they were gone and Evie was alone with the SUV, a dying fire, a sedated Weevil, and her own morbid thoughts.

_**XX**_

"Alice?" Evie asked into the phone as someone answered. She had been tinkering on the phone for the last hour to try to keep it encrypted except from the receiver at the other end. It was really more Tosh's line of work, and it could use some work, but it was enough for now.

"Evie? Is that you?" Alice voice replied frantically, "What on earth is going on? Last I heard Dad had gone to travel with the Doctor and suddenly you two are 'armed and dangerous?'"

"Yeah, sorry," Evie said tiredly, "Jack just got back with the Doctor and his current companion. Harold Saxon, it turns out, is actually an evil alien bent on world domination, and very possibly on killing the Doctor as well. Saxon made us enemies of the government on a whim as far as I can tell."

"So another day at Torchwood?" Alice asked sounding a bit confused.

"A bit worse than that. But as far as I can tell it is a normal day with the Doctor, so likely we don't have much to worry about," Evie replied, "I've got to go, but try to shield Steven from the news for a while, yeah? I'd hate for him to hear. But be careful for a while. The Doctor's going to try to make everything right, but I don't know how well he's going to do. It might be dangerous to be connected to me or Jack for a while."

"I understand," Alice said calmly, "Go save the world or whatever you're up to now."

"I'm recalling Torchwood is what I'm doing actually," Evie admitted.

"Then do it, and good luck," Alice replied.

"Good luck to you too," Evie told her and ended the call.

She then spent the rest of the night trying everything she could think of to get a hold of the team in the Himalayas, but she came up short. No matter what kind of tinkering she did her phone would not connect to any of her team's, and the comms couldn't spread out that far without patching them through Archangel and now that Evie knew exactly what it was and who was running it she wasn't going to risk it. Her team was going to have to sit this one out.

But it made Evie uneasy. This man was supposed to be every bit as clever as the Doctor, and the Doctor was _very_ clever. She felt as though she was missing some big important piece of the puzzle, and she couldn't help but think it was going to cost lives.

When the Doctor, Martha, and Jack hadn't returned by 7:45 the next morning Evie put on the news to watch the broadcast in the hopes that she would only see the Master's defeat. What happened instead made her want to cry.

It started out okay. The American President made obvious references to his country several times and had an air of superiority, but Evie had almost expected that. Then the 'Toclafane' came on. That's when she knew things were going to go badly. They were begging for the Master's in children's voices in such a way that Evie knew they hadn't planned whatever was happening. It was all the Master.

Then the president died and Evie didn't mourn him as a person, but the passing of a life in general. But Evie knew nothing good would come of any of this and when the Toclafane flew down from the sky she took the SUV and sped from the city, no intentions of looking back.

_**XX**_

_**So…This chapter's a bit short, but I think it covers what needs to be covered here nicely. There are a couple of scenes here that BiJane had a say in, and therefore this chapter is for her (even though I'm making her fall behind by posting so often while she's busy).**_

_**So, I know most of you were fully aware of Evie's 'secret' already but now it's been said straight out what it was. There were intentions that Evie would sit out the Year that Never Was, and Jack would explain everything to her when he got back, but then I realized (mostly because of BiJane) that I needed Evie to be proactive in getting Jack to come home. So then it made sense that Martha would explain it, because in my mind she was always the first to figure it out (probably in Human Nature). **_

_**I felt great guilt about parts of this chapter, and I was telling my roommates about my guilt (frequently), so one of them threatened to steal my computer, change my story, make it happier, and publish it as herself. She won't do it (probably), but if someone finds a knock off of my story please tell me so I can lecture her.**_

_**So, I'm hoping to hear what you all think of this chapter as well. And the next chapter will be out in the next two weeks (tops), I'm on a roll and knowing me it will be up sometime Tuesday. Or before Tuesday. It depends on how long it ends up really. If it's between 5,000 and 10,000 words it will be up Monday, any longer and it will be Tuesday or Wednesday. If I get stuck God help us all because I don't think I can go another two months on Writer's Block.**_


	17. A Year of Tragedies

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is after The End of Days, Doctor Who should be covering the whole year between Here Come the Drums and Last of the Time Lords, and The Sarah Jane Adventures is some time after The Temptation of Sarah-Jane.**_

_**XX**_

It was days before Evie made it back to Cardiff. She had to careful about when she drove and where and how fast. She couldn't actually drive on the roads anywhere, because the Toclafane would catch her. And they were looking for her, she was sure of it. They would be looking for her because they already had the others. She could only hope for the best for her team, but it was iffy as it was.

When she reached Cardiff she drove the SUV straight into the hub garage and sealed the doors behind her. Likely they wouldn't be able to drive anywhere for a long while, because Evie a feeling that something went wrong with the Doctor's plan and everyone else was doomed for rather dark times until they could solve it themselves.

When Evie made it into the hub proper she was in for a surprise. The hub was full of people, and Emma was standing to the side looking as though she had no idea what had happened. Then she saw Alice standing in the middle of everything and Evie knew exactly what had happened here. She had warned Alice to lay low and be careful, so she had retreated to the hub, and when things started to go bad, she brought in anyone she could find.

"Alice!" Evie called across the hub wading through people who looked scared and worn. It hadn't even been a week since the Master took over, but all the same everyone knew that Earth was no place they wanted to be.

"Evie," Alice said with a smile as she caught sight of the younger woman, "I was afraid you hadn't made it."

"It just took me a while to get back. I couldn't drive the roads. Toclafane all up and down them all. I had to drive at night when there were fewer of the things whizzing about, and the one hour drive took me three days. Couldn't speed along like I would have liked what with being off road."

"WE're going to run out of food soon, and Emma said she knew that the hub spread out under most of the city, but she had no clue where to start," Alice said getting right to the point.

"There's one tunnel that takes us right next to a supermarket, I can get a couple of people down there and we can clean it out. We have a lot of rooms to store everything in. I think we'll be needing more clothes too. There's another opening near the shopping district," Evie replied calmly, "I'll have to go with each group to unlock the doors, they're sealed and only my retina scan or Jack's will open them these days. But I'll need strong men and women who don't mind that they're stealing."

"I can find a few," Alice replied and waded back through the crowds. Evie caught a glimpse of Eugene and his mother and little brother in one corner, he seemed to be trying to explain something. There was a sight of Cathy and a few of her police officers through a gap in the bodies. And there was Rhys sitting at Gwen's desk and putting her personal things in a box so they wouldn't be disturbed.

Evie heard a brief shriek of laughter that was quickly quieted and she realized there were a lot of children here. Almost every third person was a child. It seemed Alice couldn't let any child be hurt by the Toclafane, likely through her motherly instincts she developed for Steven.

Evie walked over to Cathy and tapped her on the shoulder with a grin.

"Evie! We were afraid you had died," Cathy admitted, "When I saw those things I knew I could take advantage of knowing where your secret base was and I brought down a bunch of my officers, and anyone we met on the way."

"Good, I'm going to need your help organizing everything," Evie told her, "I'll be heading out to get some food and clothing, and while I'm gone I'll need you to work with Alice, Emma, Eugene, and Rhys because they know the hub a bit. You'll need to organize rooms where people can sleep. Any boxes you find are not to be touched until I can go through them with Emma and Ianto's paperwork. There are some volatile things in them. We need to see what these people can do. Any doctors, teachers, cooks, whatever. Get Emma to write out a roster of everyone here. We'll divide out duties and make this place into a functioning community again. I'm going to see if I can't get a hold of the team in the Himalayas, recall them. We'll need everyone we can get if we're going to fix whatever the Doctor did wrong."

"I'll get right on it," Cathy replied, "Go talk to your people, We'll be seeing plenty of each other later."

So that's what Evie did she went over to her desk, shooed the little boy who was playing with her extra shoes away. She let him take the shoes with him. But she was typing in access codes and working on the comms while hacking into every radio tower she could find between her and the Himalayas. Then finally she got a grainy connection.

"Gwen? Ianto? Tosh? Owen? Any of Torchwood Three come in and answer me immediately," Evie called out through the din. It was a long moment of static before she heard something.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Owen shouted through what sounded like heavy winds.

"The Doctor came by with Jack, but they were busy dealing with a psychotic Time Lord who had managed to convince most of the world that he's Harold Saxon, told you so by the way, and he's brought in a bunch of aliens called the Toclafane, for now apparently that's a made up name, and we're going to need you back in Cardiff. So start moving your asses in my direction," Evie ordered hearing Ianto in the background grumbling about having to take down camp just as he got the coffee going, "Oh yeah, and it turns out I don't exist because I'm actually an alien who made myself human fleeing from a Time War across all of time and space. But we can talk about that later. For now I need you home."

With that she cut the connection and started fixing up the connections she had made in her haste. She was adding on encryptions and firewalls as fast as she could think and essentially making it a permanent connection, which was rather useful because she had just extended the connection exponentially.

As she was adding in an extra firewall across the entire system Alice returned leading a small mob of men and women. They were all able bodied and no doubt they were all willing to steal in order to let everyone in this place survive.

"Okay, we're heading into a warren of tunnels, and if you don't stay close to me you will get lost. So stay close." Evie ordered in intense calm that seemed to calm everyone in the group. Suddenly it didn't seem like a raid into enemy territory again, but rather more like a walk across the city to the supermarket. Of course in the present climate the one in the same.

The tunnels were a warren just as Evie had warned them. There were more tunnels branching off in odd directions and Evie was leading them through turnings and tunnels as though leading them through her flat.

Finally they came to a metal door and Evie opened it and lead the group up a long ladder back to the surface that none of the people behind her had glimpsed in days. At the top there was another locked and sealed door which she opened with a casual flair like opening her front door on a Sunday. Outside the door was an alleyway, and across the street from the alley was a supermarket, locked up tight.

So Evie cautiously crossed the street and used that handy little device that opens any lock in under a minute, which had been sitting in storage since the incident with the Cyberwoman, which was a few months shy of a year before. So much had happened since that it seemed like it had been much longer than that.

But once she had the door opened she motioned for most the rest to follow her across and they all hurried across the street and as soon as they entered the store they began gathering up everything into carts and baskets.

It was quickly an all for one and Evie had to settle everything and gave each person one row to clean out. Evie took one of the cold food sections. She filled a cart full of everything that would fit and walked it across the street where four people had been left to take things back down into the hub. She left them with instructions to place everything in the tunnel next to the inner door, and Evie called to Emma and directed her to create a long line of people through the tunnels to bring things to the kitchen and the storage rooms surrounding it.

Evie and her band of merry thieves cleaned the store completely out. They left nothing in the room save the furniture and the money. They even took the gum from the check-out lines. Just as they were finishing a small family ran down the street looking harried, and Evie brought them down into the tunnels surrounding the hub.

When they reached the tunnels once more people were still passing things down the line through the maze to the kitchens. Evie left her thieves helping to take things down as she went to go and help organize boxes and cans on the main floor, get everything settled and ready for dinner that night.

The storerooms next to the kitchens were just being piled up with boxes, with no eye to keeping all the foods of one type together, or separating perishables from things that would last for years. So Evie took over immediately to make some order in everything. She started off by creating another line of people to a cold storage room (really intended for dead bodies but it was empty for the time being, and they could keep food there), and sending fruits, meats, and any frozen goods there for now. She would have to find another cold storage room to cool further and fill with the frozen goods, which would have to be eaten in the second wave of food, after the refrigerated goods.

When that had been dealt with she instructed people on how to organize the foods by starches, prepared meals, can goods, and boxed goods. Then separate each category by foods which are good nourishing foods by those which are essentially junk (like gum or candy, or crisps). Once everything was well on its way and most of the food had made its way to the storage rooms Evie collected up her thieves again and took them through the warren of tunnels with a number of others following after them to begin massing things down the moment they were brought in.

The next door lead onto the shopping district, where clothing stores rubbed shoulders with electronic stores and Evie opened as many doors as she could and broke shoplifting detectors in each store. Evie wandered down the road opening doors at random, mostly they were clothing stores with a number of electronics stores and restaurants while she was at it. Her people (and a few more who had decided this was worth it) went into stores and systematically sent everything down to the tunnels.

It was late into the night before they finished with their tasks. There were enough clothes and food to last them a long while (they had found another supermarket, and forty different restaurants and three bars), and the hub was self-sustaining in that the power and water sources wouldn't run out.

When Evie made her way down she had with her a rather large bag (pilfered from a cute little boutique she would happily have shopped at in better times) full of electronic gadgets from an electronics store that had everything from TVs to computers to refrigerators and microwaves to washing machines and gaming systems. Evie had taken a wide selection of smaller objects which she knew she could cannibalize to improve the systems protecting the hub from outsiders.

In the tunnels the last few items were being passed down and her people following the line of people back into the main hub. Evie locked up the doors, sealing them so only she could open them again, and followed everyone back to get everyone situated.

It was a long night of organizing clothes by size and asking people their professions and putting people into rooms to sleep with blankets and some camp cots that they had gotten out of the storage of a camping store (there were more than enough for everyone considering that Torchwood already had twenty of them in their personal storage).

All told there were sixty seven people in the hub, including Evie and Emma who should have been there anyway, among them were 24 children. They were lucky enough that one of the people crammed into the hub was a teacher, and six of the women were mothers, so the children were never without someone to watch them. They had one pastry chef from a restaurant and a number of people who could cook up something simple in a pinch, so someone was always cooking. There was one fireman, and seven of Cathy's police officers. There were three students, who Eugene had brought in, and a plumber, who was fascinated to find out that there was all this beneath the city's plumbing. There was a taxi driver, and his two tourists one a doctor and his wife a dentist (the taxi had been parked in the garage with the SUVs and Rhys' car). Basically they had someone from every walk of life, and the doctor and dentist were given free reign of Owen's Medical Bay until the team made it back.

Things were organized and it looked like things would be okay.

_**XX**_

It was a full month before Evie was convinced that the Doctor wouldn't be able to help them this time. She had heard twice from her team, and they were somewhere in France last she heard. They had stolen a car and were driving off road like she had, moving as fast as they could. So Evie was convinced to wait in the hub.

They sent out people for several more trips to steal clothing, food, or electronics from wherever Evie could find a tunnel leading to. They had picked up a couple of other people who wished to stay with them in the hub, and found them places to sleep. They had become so sure of themselves that they had started going to mattress stores and carrying out huge mattresses and drapping them down the ladder to be carried to various rooms. They gave mattresses first to children, and the one pregnant woman (who had been four months along and not even showing when the Toclafane started off), then they started letting married couples have mattresses, and the police officers got them next (somehow Evie was grouped in with them), then as they became available everyone got one. They had no bedsprings or frames, so they were just mattresses on the ground, but they were more comfortable than camping cots and everyone was relieved when theirs was placed on the floor of their assigned room.

Evie had taken over Jack's office as her bedroom and place of work. She was frequently out gathering food or bedding or clothes or whatever else they found on a particular day, or else she was strengthening the defenses on the hub. The Tourist office and everything leading between there and the main hub had been closed off, like an emergency one protocol, and the cog door was sealed. The invisible lift had been disabled and she had strengthened the firewalls on the Torchwood network, to keep their guests from prying. When she was actually in the office she was adding to the Torchwood comm system. She was high jacking radio towers all over the world and sending out the same encrypted frequency from all of them. She added in firewalls, and it would take a great deal of work to add on another headset, but for the moment it was as safe as she could make it, and she could reach all over the world.

It was two weeks after Evie came to the realization that the Doctor couldn't save them this time that the Torchwood Three team returned. But they returned two short. They lost Andy crossing France, and Gwen crossing the channel, Rhys was devastated and promptly stole away to the cells to stare at Weevils for hours at a time. Cathy was obviously grieving the loss of Andy, who had been one of her favorites on the force, and the whole Torchwood team dug through the rooms full of clothes for black to wear.

Life still went on, but now Evie was determined to end this. When she went out to steal things she would break into the camping stores and steal guns, and she would leave all by herself with one of the police officers on the inside of the door waiting to let her in when she returned. When she went on these forays she travelled to where the people of Cardiff had been shoved into small houses and forced to work. It was there that she worked to form a resistance.

It was also there that she listened for news of Martha Jones, who people said was travelling the world doing talking about the Doctor. So Evie told the people of Cardiff what she knew of him. She also told them of Torchwood, and UNIT, and what all of those people had done for them for so long. She told them of aliens, and history, and space. It became almost evening classes and she taught them physics and morals and philosophy, she brought them books to read and guns to be secreted away.

She took the sick, the aging, and the young to the hub, and a few able-bodied people who would not be noticed if they went missing. The hub continued to grow, and develop, as people rearranged furniture, and acquired furniture, and made the hub a home, more than just a place of work.

It was around this time that Evie realized that a full four months had passed and that they weren't just taking necessities anymore. They had enough of those to last them a very long time. Now they were taking things like silk sheets, and fine jewelry, and gaming systems, and books, and curtains to divide rooms. Not only that they were spreading out into other rooms. The pregnant woman, Ann, had been given a room of her own, a bassinet, and a large supply of baby goods to fill up the room. At the same time the teacher (a woman called Rhea) and the plumber started up a relationship and moved to room for the two of them. One of the students was mooning after Ianto, who ran away from her at every opportunity, and he seemed to be getting closer to Emma as a reflex. Tosh had finally talked Owen into having a little drink with her, and somehow they had both gotten drunk, slept together, and they looked to be in love, or something similar, these days.

Evie realized she was the only one who had not just simply adapted to the new world order and decided to live in it. She was the only one in the hub still fighting everything that was happening, so she raged a bit to herself before finally calming down again and staring at a picture she had kept on her desk of Jack, Alice, and Steven.

That was what she needed to fight for. For life to go on outside the hub as well as inside.

So she left again that night to meet with the people who had not been lucky enough to run into Alice, or Eugene, or Cathy on the morning of the second of May.

But this night was different, and she knew it as soon as she left the hub. Something about the air in Cardiff seemed tense, as though waiting on a knife's edge. No one was watching through a window waiting for her to arrive to usher her into their house. Every window had the curtains drawn and every door was locked tight.

As she stood in the middle of the road wondering what had happened the Master stepped out of an alleyway.

"So, little Evie," the Master laughed at her, his face gloating, "What have you been up to? Running a rebellion? Trying to find little bitty Martha Jones? Trying to help _Theta_?"

"All of the above," Evie replied flippantly her fingers of one hand finding her stun gun, and the fingers of the other her locket.

"That just won't do will it?" he asked pulling something from his own pocket, "I think I should know just who you are little Evie." Whatever it was the Master had in his pocket was now pointed right at Evie's heart, "You know what this is? It's a laser screwdriver. Much better than the Doctor's _sonic_ screwdriver, but I think you understand now."

Evie did understand. He was going to kill her. The only thing she could do would be to follow the promise she had given to jack so many month ago and open the locket.

But she didn't want to.

If she opened that locket she would be someone else, she wouldn't be Eveleen Rhiangar Smith. She probably wouldn't even be Evie. The Doctor had assured her that who she was now, was a reflection of who she was before, but it would be too different.

What would it be like to have to hearts? To be able to live over and over again? To know all of time and space? She had wondered all of this every night as she tried to sleep, and she had never come to a conclusion.

Now she was being forced to choose.

She pulled one hand from her right pocket; empty. The second hand was withdrawn from her left more slowly. She was holding the locket and she stared for long moments looking at the circles, and swirls, and line, and dots again, and wondered what they meant.

When she looked up the Master was standing right over her staring at the same thing she had been, and he looked dumbstruck. There was a long look into her face, then he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him, his fingers bruising her cheeks with how tight they were.

"To think, here all along," The Master murmured looking down at her so intently she was sure he knew exactly who she was, and he was pleased with it, "The Doctor will be so furious when he hears, I'll have to tell him right away. No! Better! I'll just show him."

With that he grabbed her arm and teleported them up to the Valiant.

_**XX**_

"Doctor I have a little present for you," the Master crowed as they appeared in the middle of what Evie supposed was supposed to be a conference room and the bridge all in one.

ON the other side of the room was a little teepee like tent, and the fabric was shaking as someone inside shifted positions. A second later an old man, feeble enough that the very act of moving out of the tent seemed to tire him crawled out of it looking as though this were all the effort he could expend. It took Evie a long moment of staring to realize that he was wearing the Doctor's pinstriped suit and the same brown swirly tie the mad had favored.

She found herself mouthing his name, as though trying it out for size. The Doctor was looking at her with such an intense sadness in his eyes that she began to wonder if he had known all along that she was a Time Lady, since the very moment they met, and that he had known who she was and hidden the fact from her. Which would mean that it was something terrible. She had been something terrible.

"You'll never believe who she is," The Master said stepping away from Evie and practically dancing across the room, "That locket of hers, she has her name engraved. Her full name. In Gallifreyan."

"No," The Doctor said denying something, but Evie couldn't guess what. Was it so strange to have her full name? Had she been someone important then?

"Oh, yes!" The Master replied gleefully, "I read it. I saw it myself and you know what her name is?"

"Don't tell me," the Doctor replied trying to flinch away from the Master.

"Mara," The Master began and it looked as though those two little syllables had done the Doctor in, as though his hearts had broken and he had lost everything, "-trievaleenarheeangarzaleea" The Master finished with glee.

The Doctor was looking at her, as though he was looking for something specific. His gaze was deep and searching and Evie could suddenly understand what authors had meant when they said 'gazes that stare into your soul' because this was surely what the Doctor was doing now. He was looking at her soul to find something, some fragment of someone he used to know, and somehow…somehow he seemed to find her lacking.

"Of course," The Doctor breathed before crawling back into his little tent, too feeble to make any great gestures of realization, like the way he might normally have danced around the room and shouted 'aha!' at the strangest of moments.

Then Evie felt as though he had abandoned her. He was only on the other side of the room. He was just sitting inside a piece of fabric, so thin you could see through it if you were up close. But it seemed like he had gotten into his TARDIS and flown to the other side of the universe, and she could feel her heart break at his abandonment.

"I think the freak would be pleased to see you," the Master said grabbing onto Evie's arm again and towing her out of the room through the door at one end, "Maybe he could die of heartbreak, and pop back to life at the end. Wouldn't that be fun?"

The Master was chuckling over his own perceived cleverness that he never seemed to notice that Evie had tucked the locket back under her shirt, and she now had no intention of ever opening it, despite her promise to Jack. Whoever she had been her very presence seemed to break the Doctor's hearts and it looked like she would be better off as a human, without the entanglements she undoubtedly had when she was still a Time Lady.

The Master was leading her into the bowels of the Valiant. Things weren't as pretty down here as they had been upstairs, where things were polished and made to make video announcements, and hold diplomatic conferences. Here the floors were frequently made of grating and there were metal railing that her all hot to the touch, as though they were arteries pumping blood through the great machine. The lighting seemed all cast in red and orange and there was steam blurring anything even in the relative distance inside the bowels of the Valiant. Everything felt hot and muggy and Evie had no real desire to stay down there, but she had an odd feeling that the Master had every intention of keeping her down here for all of time, imprisoned and lost.

The finally the Master seemed to reach wherever it was he was heading and her stopped with a door in front of him. The Time Lord flung the door open with all the flair of a stage magician to reveal a dim room with a man against the back wall. He wasn't just standing there or sitting or anything of the sort, but chained so that his arms were spread wide at all times, stretched to their fullest in such a way that the only way he could be anything resembling comfortable would be to stand with his legs spread slightly, so they were just a little wider than the width of his shoulders.

But Evie knew exactly who it was and she could suddenly understand the look in the Doctor's eyes just moments before because her heart was breaking just as irrevocably. It was Jack stood up and left uncomfortable at all times, and from the hole in his shirt he had been shot a least five times, his face was grimy as though he had been standing there for all of the last six months and no one had thought even once to clean his face. He looked thinner as though he hadn't been fed, and some of her well defined muscles seemed smaller. He generally looked like a ghost of himself.

But when he looked up at the Master's entrance his eyes had every bit of the spark they had once held and it looked as though he wanted to smile and cry from grief all at once at the very sight of her.

"Evie," He whispered and in that whisper Evie could hear that he hadn't changed a bit. His voice was hoarse from misuse, but Evie could hear the love and tenderness that had been so frequently directed towards her before, and a little hint of a casual flirting.

"Oh, look, he's missed you. Isn't that sweet of the little freak?" The Master asked shoving Evie forward and leaning against the door that had already closed behind them.

"Jack," Evie said her chin trembling a little with the effort of holding in sobs at what had happened to these strong men she cared so much for. Evie took several steps closer to Jack until she was practically touching him, she reached her arm up to touch Jack's cheek and said a quietly as she could, "I'll save you. I promise."

_**XX**_

The Master only gave them a moment longer before pulling Evie from the room again. Evie was left in a smaller closed up room just off the large conference room, and the door was locked rom the outside after the Master had stripped her of everything by the clothes on her back (including the large greatcoat she had begun sporting again as the weather had cooled), and the locket, which she refused to open. But she wondered.

What was the name the Master had said? Mara-tri-eva-leena-rhee-an-gar-za-leea? That was it wasn't it? But it only took the first two syllables to make the Doctor's old face crumble. Was that what she had been called? Mara? It certainly sounded familiar. And she had a feeling of warmth connected to that name. Maybe it was a nickname, or a pet name from someone she cared for? That would certainly explain how she felt about it.

She probably wasn't like the Master then. Of course the Doctor had tried to assure her of that before, and she had just ignored him. She should stop doing that. He was rather clever beneath his airs and frequent bursts of seeming insanity.

Right when Evie reached this point in her ponderings a soldier walked in, looking reluctant, and handed her a warm blanket and a rather fluffy pillow. She doubted any other prisoners had as nice, Jack and the Doctor certainly didn't, but it seemed the soldier had wanted to do something for her. He didn't say a word, but he had a sad smile for her like he sympathized with her plight. She couldn't count on it, but it looked like the Master's human servants weren't as loyal as he might like.

_**XX**_

Quite a long time later a different soldier came in with food for her, and he actually managed to slip a note under the bowl of slop she was given, and hid a pencil in her cup of water.

The note was simple. It just said "_We know you lead the resistance. What can we do?"_ Evie couldn't trust it on face value, but she left a note of her own on the back saying, "_Clean Jack's face"_ if she next saw him with a clean face they would have a little more credit with her. If she got another note she would leave another similar message.

But the next meal was brought by an older woman who looked a bit familiar, but Evie couldn't pace where she might know her. It wasn't until the woman let her see the paper under her bowl of gruel that she realized. It said "_I'm Francine Jones. Do You remember?"_ Evie nodded eagerly. She met this woman briefly when she first met the Doctor. Or maybe she should say when she first met the Doctor as a human.

Evie wrote a similar note to the older woman when she came back. It just said, "_How is your family? News in the resistance is that Martha escaped Japan."_

The next meal was brought in by Tish, who Evie remembered right away. Tish's note looked like it might be her handwriting, but the words were not hers. Because it said, "_They're building a glass box in front of me and I'm scared of what they will do with it. I'm afraid it might be for you."_ Evie couldn't reply but whispered, "remind him of my love."

It was another three meals brought by soldiers before the Master returned. Because of Jack's message Evie was quite sure what the man was going to do. It certainly seemed something the Master would do, trap her in a glass cage and force her to watch as he killed the man she loved over and over again. She really did fear for her sanity then.

"Hello _Mara_," The Master said as he pranced into the room. When he said 'Mara' it filled her with chills, but it seemed so warm when she whispered it to herself at night.

Evie allowed a long moment to pass before she replied, "Oh, were you speaking to me? I didn't realize. My name is _Evie _after all." She said this with a grin that said quite plainly, you might have power over my life and death right now, but my mind is my own.

"Oh, you haven't opened your locket?" the Master said in a tone of voice you might use on a small child, "How sad. Don't you want to know? Isn't your curiosity killing you?"

"Weeeelllll," Evie drew out the word as though she was going to say she had considered it, but she continued by saying in a curt voice, "No, not at all. I'm quite content to be Evie Smith, second in command of Torchwood Three, and third in line for Torchwood in general. Although…Knowing you, you've probably already killed Archie, so I'm second in command over all aren't I?"

The Master looked enraged by this and pulled Evie up out of the chair she had been allowed and, gripping her arm tight enough to bruise, he pulled her from the room and through the warren of passageways.

Then he flung open the same door as last time, but now between Jack and the door was a large glass box. The only openings were a tightly fitted door, and a tightly fitted tube leading to a box like contraption the Evie assumed was probably to filter the air.

The door to the glass box was opened and Evie tossed inside with enough force that she hit the other side of the box with a slap, and the floor with a thud. Then the Master slammed the door shut and there was the click of a lock, and sudden silence. Before she had heard the sound of the Valiant's engines rumbling and keeping it in the air, now she could feel them, but there wasn't a sound to be heard. The box was completely soundproofed.

The Master stormed past the box as she watched and pulled a knife and began cutting at Jack with a passion and fire she never again wished to see. Before long there were long bleeding wounds covering Jack's body and he was left hanging, bleeding out like a piece of meat and all Evie had to watch was her love dying, or the locked door where the Master had already left.

So Evie fell to the floor and cried.

_**XX**_

That was only the first time she cried herself to sleep. Every time the Master got bored, or angry he would come down to their room and find some way to kill Jack. It was usually a slow and painful death, but occasionally the Master would just shoot him and walk right back out.

Evie had no idea how long she had been there, but she counted every time anyone came in with food. They would first feed Jack chained to the wall, then open her door for just a moment to squeeze a tray in, and wait until she had finished it, before opening the door just long enough again to take the tray out again.

It was frequently Tish who brought their food, and she always traded a few words with Jack as they both looked longingly at Evie's box, before Tish walked over with her food. There was usually a note under her bowl, and Evie was sure the Master had seen it, the notes passed back and forth. Many days when Tish spoke briefly to Jack she was looking at her hand, reading out Evie's message from the day before. Jack would reply with his own message, which would be relayed to Evie the next day.

It was a very long and tedious time, and if there had not been a clock and calendar on one wall of the room, she would not have a clue how much time passed. But it was almost two months before anything happened.

The Master came fuming into the room one day, but instead of rushing to Jack, he opened Evie's box and stood in the open doorway watching her for a long moment.

"You'll never guess what I heard today," the Master finally said pulling on his cheerful face that told Evie that whatever he was about to say was going to be truly horrible, "News from London. They found a house in Ealing."

At that Evie's hear sunk. Ealing. That was where Sarah-Jane lived with Luke and Rani and Clyde. Sarah-Jane and a couple of very brave children.

"It had been hidden somehow before this. But now, they found huddled in the attic were children. Three children," The Master continued, adding in breaks to add to Evie's horror, "Two boys, a girl. They were very brave called up the Doctor's old pet. That stupid tin dog. But I had my Toclafane kill them. They're not important after all."

With that Evie flung herself at him kicking and hitting and scratching anything she could reach. She didn't use any of the skills she had learned in martial arts, or practically in catching Weevils for the last two years. She was just a bundle of complete rage going off against the unfairness of it all. Three very good young people. They had the good morals to save everyone without the knowledge that they couldn't. They were _so_ young.

The Master flung Evie back against the glass wall and tossed several photos of their dead bodies in after her. Then he sealed the door and walked away.

Evie spent the rest of that day crying and screaming and banging into the walls. It was bad enough everything that had happened to her, and Jack, and the Doctor. Everything Martha must have seen travelling across the world. But now three teenagers she cared for were dead, all because a couple of stupid adults couldn't deal with one psychotic genius.

Evie had a period where she hated everything after that. She hated the Doctor for not having a plan. She hated Jack for leaving with the Doctor. She hated herself for getting caught, for not being on earth when everything happened. She hated Martha for agreeing to travel with the Doctor. She hated Tish for bringing notes of Jack's love and concern. But more than anything else she hated the Master. She hated him for something so simple it was nearly funny. Him, him she hated for his very existence.

But the cycle of hate ended when she realized something.

Where was Sarah-Jane?

She hadn't been in the attic with Luke and his friends, and Evie expected that the Master would have told her if he had caught and killed her as well; she was family after all.

But that set Evie to thinking. Aethelred wasn't really her brother. But he still knew her. So Sarah-Jane wasn't her niece, but she was as close as family. But how did Aethelred know her when she didn't exist here when she was young. And it came to her.

She must have her own time machine.

If she could find it she could stop all this from ever happening. She could catch the Master before he was elected Prime Minister, and she could save everyone. She could save Luke, Clyde, and Rani. She could save Andy and Gwen, she could save all those people across the world that never should have died.

But to look for the mythical time machine she would have to get back to earth, and for that she was going to have to break out of her glass cage.

So Evie started plotting.

The notes she had mostly ignored for the last month were suddenly very important. She was passing along her love again, but now she was also passing plans. She was sending along ideas. How Jack could break the chains the bound him if he pulled at the right angle with the right force. Once he did that he could easily open her door, and together they could get to the conference room, where Evie could high jack the use of the teleport system. If she could get the use of that they could all make it back to Earth. Jack, Evie, the Doctor, and the entire Jones family. They could teleport just in front of the hub garage, which Evie (with Jack's retina scan) could open in a matter of seconds. Without Jack's retina scan it would take twenty or even thirty minutes, and was too dangerous in a large group. So if for some reason they lost Jack they were to teleport to one of the openings into the tunnels surrounding the hub, which would take her just as long to open, but it was better hidden and protected. No one could open it without a long period of time punching numbers and her retina scans.

Evie's plans were only affected if she lost Jack. The Doctor would be a cumbersome burden no matter which entrance they used, and the Jones would be rather useless to her either way.

So they chose a time. It would be five pm (17:00), when the guards were changing shifts. No human on the Valiant worked as efficiently as they should, and there would be a five minute window when no one was guarding the door into Jack and Evie's room. The lock to the room in general would take Evie only seconds to open, and the Jones' would all move as close to the conference room as they could without the Master getting suspicious.

So the day came and everything was prepared. Tish had managed to steal a couple of kitchen knives, while Clive managed to literally get a wrench in the engines. It wouldn't make the Valiant crash, but it would cause enough damage that the place would be working as well as it could be, noticeably louder and more cumbersome. The Master would send someone to fix it immediately, but the wrench was placed cleverly enough that it was hard to find, and in the time it took to find it, it would have caused even more damage.

It was 4:58 when Jack started to pull on his chains. They broke at exactly 5:00 with a loud crashing noise. But Jack ignored the chains still stuck to his arm and hurried across the room to open the lock. When the door was opened Evie flung herself across the distance and kissed him hungrily. It was the first kiss they had shared in the last eight months.

But it only lasted a moment before Evie was running to the door and opening the lock. Within a moment they were out in the halls and winding through halls that Evie only half remembered from her two trips from the conference area to her glass cage.

It was when they reached the conference room that everything fell apart.

The Master seemed to know what they had planned. He had no soldiers, just him in the room sitting in a chair and waiting for them.

"Took you long enough," the Master commented leaning his chair back calmly, "figured you'd try something when I told you. But two whole months? I thought you'd be just as passionate as in school."

"A good plan is better than none," Evie replied wishing she had remembered just how clever this man was, "Maybe I've just grown up. I've been human for a while after all."

"Yes, I've been thinking. We should change that," The Master replied and before Evie could think the laser screwdriver was pointed at her heart, "Open it."

There was a long moment of silence, completely unbroken. Evie could feel Jack's expectation like a cloud around her. He had extracted that promise and he fully expected her to act according to it. But Evie had no intention of doing so. She didn't want to give up her humanity to become someone else.

"Open it," The Master repeated springing from his chair and approaching her the screwdriver never leaving its mark. Eventually it was pressed against Evie's chest just where her heart should be, just off-center in her chest, "If you open it you won't die even if I do shoot you. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"No, not really," Evie replied trying to be cool and casual while her mind was working frantically trying to find some way out of this.

Then Jack's hand was on her shoulder and gripping it tight with she knew was fear. Jack Harkness should never show fear, but Evie knew it could never be anything else when her life was in danger. And that was what decided it. If Jack was so afraid to lose her…she couldn't let him.

So Evie slowly lifted the locket from around her neck and stared at it, just like she had the last time she stood in this position. But this time she placed the nail of her thumb into the crevice between the two halves, and with the flick that seemed casual for something so very monumental she let it spring open.

Inside was the locket was a flowing golden light, but it was only contained for a milisecond. Then the light was consuming everything that she is and was before that very second. It was pain. Incredible pain that she could not believe could even exist in the universe. So much pain she couldn't even open her mouth to shriek and relieve it a little. But all the same it felt right, it was like going home, even though you knew you were going to get into giant fights and rows and you'll never forgive those people again, just seeing them and walking into the house is going home. It was a similar pain, bittersweet.

But in the middle of this there was a shift. She could see things, and feel things, and she knew things she hadn't ever known before. Like she knew the exact speed of the earth and she could feel it like vertigo spinning and dizzy and half falling over. She knew every piece of information she had been missing over the years to finish her equations on time travel, and it was so simple. Practically child's play to her now.

But more than anything she knew this man in front of her, and she hated him. She had always hated him. She met him when she went to the Academy, when she was sent after gazing into the untempered rift seeing all the might and majesty of the universe, of time, and of life. She met him her second day, he was older and debonair and suave and seemed to be genuinely interested in her, but she hated him. He was fake from every angle you looked from. There was something dark and dangerous boiling just below the surface, and she hated that Theta couldn't see it. But Theta was cute, even back then he saw the good long before he even suspected the bad. She was younger, but she had frequently seemed the older. Perhaps it was a side effect of him being born instead of loomed? It would certainly explain _that_. She had been loomed like a proper Time Lady.

Thinking of that she was only on her second regeneration. She had regenerated once. Her hair had been fiery red, and she had been several inches shorter. She had pale gray eyes, or maybe they were silver, she had never cared for her looks back then. Only the Doctor ever called her Mara. Everyone else had called her Evie.

Well, the Master tried to call her Mara, and she hit him. He didn't try again until that day after he had captured her.

What Evie wanted to know was why the Doctor didn't put it together before. They had been very close, Evie always tailing after him like a lost puppy. All the way until he announced that he was going to steal a TARDIS (and such an old one! A type 40? It's an antique!), and carry Susan away from Gallifrey, to see the real world. Evie was horribly jealous that he took Susan and not her. They didn't speak until he returned with his second face to face trial for breaking the laws of noninterference, she had given him a chewing out for that!

"_Good lord Theta!" Evie exclaimed looking at him, "You've regenerated and I missed it?"_

"_Mara!" Theta replied lifting her up into a hug and swinging her about, "You don't look to have changed at all. Wearing the same outfit as our…farewell too…"_

"_You're still in trouble for that one!" Evie replied playfully, "I heard you're on trial. What on earth could you have done now?"_

"_I broke the noninterference laws but-" Theta replied trying to explain himself._

"_You did what? Theta! This is the basis of our society. How could you?" Evie asked her voice a mixture of shame at his actions and scandalized interest, "Did you at least do it with a bit of flair?"_

"_A little," Theta admitted._

"_Then I can forgive you for leaving me behind," Evie told him with a grin, "I'm working on my license to fly a TARDIS. I said it was to study firsthand the literature of every great civilization of the universe, but really it's just to see things. But don't tell anyone. They'll revoke it immediately if they hear."_

"_What type?" Theta asked trying to sound disinterested._

"_Six-ty," Evie replied in a sing-song voice, "Twenty models better than that antique you dug out of the museum. How could you? It's sooo old."_

"_I like it," Theta defended himself._

"_Recess is almost over, I'd best go. If anyone sees me talking with you I'll be set back years on my license," Evie said looking around furtively. Then she leaned forward and kissed his cheek and grinned, "See you when I get out there!"_

Then Evie was drawn back to the present by the Master snatching the locket from her fingers, which were slack. Come to think of it she wasn't standing anymore. Had the vertigo knocked her down after all? Or was it something to do with opening the locket to begin with? Her throat was sore too. It looked like she had screamed from the pain after all.

"So, Evie do you remember?" the Master asked looking at the empty locket thoroughly. Evie pulled herself up straight and snatched it from his fingers with all the confidence of someone who knows they're just as good and very likely better than the person in front of them.

"That I've hated you from the moment I met you?" Evie asked closing the locket and pulling it over her head, "Or that you had a thing for me when I was _eight_? Yeah. I remember."

There was silence for a long moment before Jack started laughing. He was somewhere behind Evie and she turned to look at him smiling. She still felt exactly the same for the man she saw. She was glad that none of that had changed; it would have been tragic had it done so.

"Ah, that's the Mara I remember," the Doctor said from his little tent. He was sitting in front if it his soul seeming younger than his face for once. It was an odd turnabout for him, "Spirited enough to sneak into both my trials and yell at me for becoming president."

"Oh, yeah I remember that! You were trying to see their faces. What a stupid reason to accept the position as president!" Evie laughed ignoring the Master for now. As long as he had no access to the door he was virtually powerless. Well, not powerless he had those 'Toclafane' (and what an absurd name now she knew about them) and his laser screwdriver, but all the same he wasn't going to hurt her, and he wasn't likely to hurt the Doctor more for the moment. Jack would bounce back from whatever he threw at him.

"Good-bye Evie," The Doctor said with a smile and Evie's smile faded away and her brow furrowed, and just as she was about to ask what he meant there was a blue-white light and the Valiant faded around her.

_**XX**_

"Goddamnit Theta!" Evie yelled at the sky standing in front of more secretive entrance to the hub.

But she spent the next twenty minutes opening the door and getting into the hub, which had become her home in the six months that she had not been able to see her flat.

When she opened the door the alarm went off as expected, so she sealed the door back behind her and made her way down the ladder to the inner door and spent another twenty minutes opening it. It took that long for people to get down to the door to greet her with guns and stony faces. Owen, Tosh, and Cathy were all standing there, and before she knew it all three were hugging her tightly.

"What happened?" Tosh asked worriedly, "We haven't heard from you in two months we were all sure you had died. None of us know the tunnels or the codes well enough to leave to check on the people on the surface, we've made only two food raids, and things are getting a little repetitive, but without you we didn't dare to try more."

"The Master kidnapped me," Evie admitted with a long sigh, "I'll tell you all about it later but I'd like a shower and a change of clothes first. Do you think Ianto can clean up my coat for me?"

"No doubt he can," Owen replied, "he's the coffee-boy."

"There is definitely a point there despite the insult," Evie said with a laugh, "Of course back when Theta and Koschei got along they were much the same. Perhaps it's because Koschei has always been psychotic. That's probably right."

"What _are_ you talking about?" Cathy asked looking over at her incredulously.

"Right, Master held me at gunpoint and made me open the locket," Evie replied as casually as she could, "My name's really . Yeah, people used to call me Evie back then too. The irony."

"So who are…Theta and Koschei?" Tosh asked still looking confused.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Theta Sigma was the Doctor's childhood name, Koschei was the Master's," Evie replied leading the way through the tunnels on route to find a clean change of clothes, "What was Ann's baby? Girl or a boy?"

"A girl, she named her Eva, for you. We really did think you were dead," Tosh replied.

"That's sweet. Completely unnecessary, but sweet just the same," Evie said with a smile. She really was touched that someone would think highly enough of her to name their child after her.

When she found the clothes rooms she saw that it was Ann herself with little Eva strapped her to back manning the room.

"Evie!" The woman called excitedly, "We thought you were dead."

"Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated," Evie replied with a laugh, "Think you can find me a pair of black slacks size 9, and a blouse of some kind, a Large probably."

"Sure, I know just what to get," Ann replied excitedly running down the rows of racks of clothes for the area of women's pants in size nine. A black pair was quickly passed over and then there was much rummaging through blouses before Ann came up with a blue top that was quiet frilly, much to Evie's secret pleasure.

"You're amazing," Evie told the other woman and kissed her on the cheek. That was something she had done quite often before. Kissing people on the cheek. She used to be quite demonstrative in general.

Evie left the thoughts behind and made a beeline for the locker rooms. She didn't make it of course. Alice found her first.

"Evie!" Alice ran across the hub and embraced Evie swinging her around much like Theta had so long ago, "I was sure it was you when the alarms went off. No one tried to silence them after all, you wanted them to be heard. How's my dad? I assume that's what happened? You were captured right? Did you just escape?"

"Hang on!" Evie laughed, "Let me answer one. Jack's fine for now. If we leave too much longer he might go a little mad, but he just bounces back from everything. _Don't Worry_. Everyone looks to you. The calmer you are, the better everyone else will deal with the unexpected. I was captured. The Master put me in a glass box where I could see Jack all the time but never hear him, never touch him. He'll have found that horribly amusing. We planned an escape together; me, your father, the Doctor, and his companion's family. But the Jones' got caught and so did Jack and I. the Doctor did something, I have no clue what, but whatever he did she sent me to the chosen rendezvous point, but just me. Jack and the Joneses and the Doctor stayed behind. So as soon as I get cleaned up I'll be planning a rescue attempt."

"Go get cleaned up then," Alice ordered, "The sooner we start planning the sooner Dad will be safe."

So Evie was off to the Locker Rooms. She cleaned up and called together her 'Court' or sorts. Tosh, Owen, Ianto, Emma, Rhys, Cathy, Alice, and Eugene. The people she trusted wholehearted with her life, and the lives of those she cares most for. Most of which were in the room anyway.

Then she explained everything that had happened in the last two months on the Valiant, and listened to their reports of what had happened on the surface (well mostly just in the hub). When she told them that she had a time machine (her very own Type 60 TARDIS, that she was pretty sure she had broken the Chameleon Circuit of to copy the Doctor) they all cheered. They were rather (understandably) upset when she admitted that she had no idea what she did with it.

So the plot to track it down was begun.

_**XX**_

It took them two weeks to get everything back to normal in the hub (as it was before Evie was captured at least) and during that time Evie wracked her memories for what in the world she could have done with the thing. But the last thing she remembered was placing the chameleon arch on her head, and then she was human starting her first day of University. Which really was an ingenious course of action, because she could be busy enough that she would think to contact her mother, and it was around that time that Aethelred went missing, so she'd have no reason to talk with him either. But what on earth had she done with her TARDIS?

It really was a mystery and they had decided the only way to solve it was to go to London, where she had been at University, and look around there for it. But that would take a lot of preparation to get them out of Cardiff and all the way to London. Because either they walk (and only at night really because they did have to hide from the Toclafane) or they found someone with a permit to drive. It was only two hours driving like slow people (anyone but Evie; which suddenly seemed to make sense. To someone who had always had a time machine to travel anything else was downright slow.), and with the extra stops and searches and such only delay the trip about an hour.

The trouble was that Evie couldn't venture out inside the city of Cardiff anymore. Every Toclafane in the city would have been put on red alert to watch for her, so someone else would have to go make contact with the resistance, but anyone from Torchwood was too noticeable. The Master knew all their names and faces and the Toclafane would watch for them. So they decided that Cathy was probably their best bet, after all Alice was connected with both Jack and Evie, and she had Steven to look after.

So one night almost a full month after Evie escaped the Valiant Cathy went through the tunnels with Evie as a guide and stepped out into the night air and snuck down the streets to the right door, where she knocked twice and was ushered in like an old friend. It was a code that had been developed in the early days of the resistance, it meant someone else with the resistance was at the door. If the two knocks had been followed by another two it would have meant Evie specifically, because she used to come so often to these houses. But the rhythm of knocks had been an inside joke for Evie alone. Two knocks that they are human, and her an extra two because for all her airs and pretends she was actually a Time Lord as well.

Cathy was gone a full two hours and when she returned and Evie let her in. It turned out to be a wasted two hours because only one person in Cardiff had been given a permit to travel, and he had left a full week earlier, and it wasn't likely he would ever be back.

So they had just wasted a full month on this, with nothing to show for their efforts.

So that night as everyone else slept Evie gathered up things she would need to take with her if she was going to walk to London. The next morning Ianto appeared as if by magic with a pile of travel packs and food that traveled well. It was as if he had read her mind. _Maybe it was a twin thing_. Evie laughed to herself remembering the days when she knew Theta's mind as well as she knew her own. That was long ago back in their Academy days.

Another three weeks passed as Evie and Ianto mapped out the path they would wake to London, and gathered everything they might need on the way, secretly from places scattered through the hub. They hid everything in one of the tunnels, right at a door, leading to a ladder, leading to another door which opened inside a warehouse just outside the city limits.

Tosh and Owen were quick to figure out what the two were up to, but did nothing to stop them. In fact when they left it was their friends' blessings. Well maybe no Alice's, because Evie was the _only_ link to her Dad on the planet, and she didn't want to lose her, but Alice made no motions to stop the Time Lady, and let her go peacefully.

They all knew it was going to be a very long trip and none of them held any illusions that it would be easy either. They were all fully prepared for a long and hard road from Cardiff to London, and one where there was every danger they might die.

_**XX**_

It took them six weeks to get to London. In the second week the Toclafane found them, and Ianto came very close to losing his life. As it was he lost the use of his left arm. When they finally reached London Ianto was still healing, and Evie knew she was going to have to contact the Resistance here and ask them to take Ianto in and care for him as he healed. She would have to search the city alone for TARDIS she knew belonged to her.

They hid in an old warehouse that had been stripped of all metal, only the concrete blocks forming the walls remained for several days as Evie watched for the Resistance. She frequently went and blended into the crowds listening to conversations and following people to the houses where everyone lived. All her spying took her two weeks to be reasonably sure that she knew the correct house to knock twice on the door.

So Evie went late at night and knocked twice, then she knocked twice more. The door was opened for her immediately and she was ushered into the overcrowded home.

"My friend and I came down from Cardiff," She explained to the woman in charge of the house, and subsequently the Resistance in London, "We were almost caught by the Toclafane on the way, and my friend was badly injured. He needs a place to hide where he can heal in peace, and if it comes to it he can be cared for."

"Bring him tomorrow after the shifts end and we can care for him in your stead," The woman replied calmly.

With that Evie took her leave and snuck back to the warehouse where Ianto was looking worse for the wear. He was pale and he had a mild fever and his arm looked infected and even with everything Evie knew as a Time Lady she was helpless to help Ianto because she had no experience with Medicine. It was no help that she was still young for a Time Lady. She was only just reaching two hundred (it had frequently amused her that she was older than Jack after all), and she hadn't had time to build up the Doctor's repertoire of knowledge and abilities.

She felt helpless to time, which she was supposed to rule over, and fate, which had never before seemed an obstacle, as a human or a Time Lady. The complete helplessness carried over as she helped her very best friend to the safe house and as she spent the next three weeks searching London. But the city was barely recognizable from the last time she had been there. But then it had been just a few days short of a year since then.

It seemed impossible that so much could happen, and yet so little in just a measly little year. She could feel the flow of time, see it, she knew exactly what time it was every minute of every day. She could usually pinpoint it to the very second. And as it was eight oh two in the morning, it would be exactly one day until the anniversary of the Master's takeover.

But as she was hunting through the outskirts of the city hiding behind rocks and between boulder she saw something she never thought she would. There in a black leather jacket was Martha Jones looking over at the building docks.

"Martha Jones," Evie said sliding down rocks the meet the other woman who jumped worriedly at the sound of her own name.

"You're different," Martha remarked as the two calmed down a little.

"So are you," Evie replied raising an eyebrow, "Still in love with the Doctor?"

"Still carrying around that locket?" Martha asked nodding her head to the silver chain around her neck. Evie pulled it from around her neck and tossed it to the younger woman.

"It's empty," Evie told her, "Well, not empty really. I put photos in it, but it doesn't hold my essence any longer. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, right this is Dr. Tom Milligan," Martha said gesturing to the man, then gesturing to Evie she said, "This is Evie Smith, she's been leading a pretty big piece of the Resistance."

"I'm more than just Evie Smith, that's just the easiest way to say it," Evie told him with a grin, "Travelling with a doctor Martha. I should tell Theta."

"Theta? He the guy you were talking about?" Dr. Milligan asked Martha looking between the two women.

"I don't know is Theta the Doctor?" Martha inquired.

"One and the same. Still insists on calling me Mara. Did that when we were kids and he never stopped. But then I suppose I've never stopped calling him Theta have I?" Evie said chuckling a little as Martha handed the locket back to her.

"Did you come up to London alone?"

"No, Ianto, my best friend, came along with me," Evie said sadly in reply, "The Toclafane saw us, and I was able to lose them, but Ianto's arm will never be the same. It's likely he'll never have full use of it, or any. I don't know enough about medicine to help him. He's in one of the houses, they're hiding him."

"I can take a look at him when I've done with what I have to do today," Martha promised, "What are you doing in London anyway?"

"Looking for my TARDIS," Evie said with a self-deprecating grin, "I got here in it, and I must have left it somewhere, but I don't know where to look for it, and if I had even half a mind when I was setting things up I told it to hibernate so the Doctor wouldn't even be able to pick it up. I'll have to find it the old fashioned way."

"I'll meet you at the houses tonight," Martha promised leaving Evie to her searches and wanderings once more.

_**XX**_

Martha was true to her word and as soon as she made it inside she made a beeline for Ianto and looked him over. Then she had someone heat damp cloths and lay them over the wounds on Ianto's arms. They were red and inflamed and a great contrast to the paleness of the rest of his skin, there were small and large gashes all up and down his left arm, but it was the thickest (and reddest) of the gashes crossing his left shoulder that was the most worrisome. Had the Toclafane gotten any deeper it would have hit bone, and there was no way they could have saved his arm then.

As Martha and Dr. Milligan tended to Ianto's arm Martha began talking. She talked about the Doctor and everything he had done for the earth and Evie found herself adding to the stories. Martha talked about the time the Doctor defeated the Cybermen and Daleks in London, but Evie told them of the time he prevented a black hole from swallowing the earth by going back on his own time stream. Martha talked about the Doctor going to Shakespeare's time and defeating witches and Evie countered with how he had used his own rejected status as president to defeat Sontaran ploys, that could have affected the entire universe given time.

Stories were passed back and forth for a long time, till suddenly Evie realized she was the only talking. And she was talking about their days at the Academy. How had she even gotten onto the subject? But Evie kept talking till her voice was hoarse and the sun and moon had both already set.

It was then that the soldiers arrived outside. The Master was there and Evie could feel a flashback coming on to the day the Master had cornered her in the streets outside the houses and captured her, carrying her away for two full months trapped in a glass box with her own rage and the sight of her love being killed over and over again.

Martha gave herself up. But somehow Evie never expected anything else. The people who travel with the Doctor, and love the Doctor, and are loved by him are all the noble sort who are willing to give up their own lives and freedom in order to save others.

Except her.

She wouldn't give her life for just anyone. A random stranger on the street might get sympathy and compassion, but they would never get her life. The only people who she would willing give her life, were her team, Jack, the Doctor, Alice, Steven, Cathy, or Eugene. There was no one else who had enough of a portion of her heart to be entitled to her life should theirs be in danger.

Evie would kill for no one, and only die for a few. She was a selfish creature, but she could not understand those who were truly otherwise like Theta. He was almost completely selfless these days. He had his selfish moments over the years, but for the most part he was selfless.

Evie had wondered over the years how many of the Doctor's lives had been given to save someone else, but just the same…Evie had only used one of her lives and it was in leaving Gallifrey. The Doctor had already begun the process that eventually ended their civilization, but she had been waiting for something similar and she had taken one last look at the world of her birth before turning around, walking into her TARDIS and flying away. But there was so much turbulence in the Vortex (something she had never come across before) that she had been knocked into the door, and it had flung open in the middle of the Vortex, and Evie had aged beyond bearing and deaged and aged again all in the span of a second the strain of it all started a regeneration cycle and she regenerated as she pulled herself back into her TARDIS properly and got the door sealed properly.

_**XX**_

It was the anniversary of the day the Master took over. It would be exactly a year in four minutes and 52 seconds. 51. 50.

Evie could help but count down. Something monumental to the nature of time and space was happening and it made her itch in the same way a new sweater sometimes could.

43. 42. 41. 40.

Ianto was looking better this morning; Martha and Dr. Milligan had really helped the night before. He was looking less pale and his eyes were clearer, his head cooler. They said they still weren't sure Ianto could ever use his left arm properly again, but it was looking brighter in Evie's mind.

20. 19. 18. 17. 16. 15. 14. 13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Four minutes exactly.

Everyone was watching the clocks this morning. Today was the day the Master was launching his fleet to wage war on the rest of the universe. Evie wasn't the only one counting down, she was just probably the only one counting down without a glance at a clock.

That's not true.

The Doctor up on the Valiant was probably doing the same thing.

Evie let her mind drift to the people on the Valiant. Jack, Martha, the Doctor, the Joneses, the UNIT soldiers who were just saving their own lives. And Lady Lucy, who was as dim as they come and had obviously been manipulated.

3. 2. 1. Three minutes.

"Are you sure she'll be okay?" One of the young women standing by Evie asked her.

"Yes," Evie replied immediately, "She's a companion of the Doctor, and he only takes the best."

Maybe that was why he left her behind all that time ago. The grudge was gone. It had nearly been a hundred years of her own life, and much longer for Theta. But it made sense. Theta had known her better than anyone. She was inherently in everything to save herself, or to live for herself, or benefit herself in some way. That was never the Doctor's way of life. Even when he was only twenty (so young, almost a baby!) he had looked out for her and Koschei before himself. Evie remembered tales from the first eight years of her life in Lungbarrow House. He was like that before she was ever loomed. Before he was even taken to the untempered schism.

9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. One minute.

It was then Evie realized that something was shifted. Time was moving. It was like a swirl of winds around her and it was sucking at her very consciousness.

2. 1.

_**XX**_

"The president has just been shot!" a reporter was crying over the news Evie had high jacked through her laptop, "We seem to have lost our connection. We'll pass on the news as soon as we hear it."

Evie looked up at the sky and prayed they were all fine.

_**XX**_

_**So…I finished this at one a.m. and subsequently spent a full hour on trying to submit it. Then I started watching Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which made me feel better about fanfiction being evil. Then I just went to bed and said screw it because it was 2:30 in the morning and I needed sleep.**_

_**I'm quite fond of this chapter. It's just about 13,000 words, I've revealed a lot about Evie, I've developed Evie's relationships with people, hinted at where some things are intended to go, and covered an entire year (in detail I add) in one chapter. There was a moment when I was scared I would have to split it so I could have it done in time. But then I worked on this all through my Humanities class (which I usually pay attention to, but this time it was the thinkers of the Age of Reason and I already knew most of them), and realized I could do this. If I had skipped Math I could have had it done sooner…but I got half my math homework for the week done, so I'm glad I didn't.**_


	18. Waiting, Headaches, and old Exes

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood is during Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Doctor Who should be between the end of Series 3 and the beginning of Series 4, and The Sarah Jane Adventures is somewhere around the beginning of Series 3.**_

_**XX**_

Evie waited for hours before she realized that they weren't coming back to the warehouse. In that time she watched the news and saw as they reported that UNIT was in control of the Valiant, Prime Minister Saxon was dead, and a number of the people who had been at the scene had simply disappeared and their names were unknown.

Evie understood. The Doctor's plan had worked (whatever it had been) and the Master was dead. They had saved the Joneses and most likely taken them home. In all likelihood they would meet her in Cardiff in the next couple of days. The Doctor had no idea how to drive his own time machine after all.

When Evie got back to Cardiff her first plan of action was to go to her apartment and take a long nap. It was only three in the afternoon, but she needed a good nap before she dealt with anything having to do with the Rift or recalling Gwen and the gang to Cardiff.

Evie's head had been pounding the whole way back, and the Weevil in the back was rather cross with her having been stuck in the SUV for days, and didn't help her headache at all.

Her ears were ringing and she was dizzy and she generally felt terrible. The edges of her vision was blurry and the sun sitting right in her eyes the last stretch didn't help anything. It seemed to give everything a golden glow and there were almost silver…but there wasn't the sun was out of her eyes and everything was clearer.

Evie had felt terrible enough that she didn't get stopped even once for speeding not to mention any tickets. It was like a snail's pace the whole way, but Evie was sure she was being safe for once.

She might try it again someday. It was relaxing sometimes to be completely safe. Like being wrapped up in Jack's arms where she could be sure nothing would ever hurt her.

_**XX**_

Evie walked into the hub late that night after she had her long nap and as the cog doors rolled open she found her vision blurring at the edges again, and the ringing was louder and she was seeing…there was a…people…time…space…terror…

It was gone like it had never been.

Evie walked up to Jack's office to call UNIT and give her accounting of what had happened, since she had seen the Doctor and everyone was going to be scrambling for the next several days dealing with the power vacuums from both the US president and the new British Prime Minister dying. It had not been a good morning.

The call went long into the night because not only did Evie have to give her own account she had to get accounts from UNIT who had people just reporting from the Valiant with worrying news. A lot more happened than Evie had originally thought.

According to UNIT there was an entire year which had been reset to its beginning because of something Jack did on orders of the Doctor. It was all a little unclear still, but a number of the soldiers stationed on the Valiant had died, and from the survivors they knew that a lot had happened.

Something about a paradox machine, and the Doctor looking like a really ugly bobble-head doll, and the Master torturing people for fun.

Through the whole conversation Evie's headache was getting worse and worse. She had taken a lot of ibuprofen, but it was only helping so much. Owen was going to have to take a good look at her head to see if something happened.

It was around when Evie was getting ready to just hang up the phone and go to bed that the colonel reporting what had happened mentioned Evie herself.

"…and according to our soldiers you were present on the Valiant."

"I was definitely on earth. I got reset with everyone else," Evie told him with a little scoff and shake of her head. Which was stupid because it just made her head hurt worse.

"According to our men you escaped in a failed coup several months before the end of the year," The colonel replied calmly, "Apparently you also helped to run the resistance on earth. Possibly even started it. Although they're also saying that Martha Jones, the Doctor's current companion, did so."

"Me? Run a rebellion. Running Torchwood is hard enough. I'm not about to go run a freedom fighter's movement," Evie said raising an eyebrow and pushing her hair out of her face. Maybe she should cut it, she hadn't done so since before Abaddon.

"That's what the people are saying, can't tell if it's true or not, but all the same you probably did something since they said that the Master went down to earth to personally bring you up to the Valiant, and specially constructed a glass room to keep you in," the colonel refuted.

Evie's headache flared and she pressed her palm to her forehead and she thought she saw photos strewn on a glass floor looking down on metal grating. There were little drops of water sitting on the glass, and through it she could see steam rising up and droplets pooling on the outside of the glass.

"Ms. Smith?" The colonel's voice asked concerned and Evie looked up to the computer screen where she had a VTC going with the colonel.

"I'm sorry, it's been a stressful day, and I've got quite the headache. If you could send along any information you think pertinent I will look through it in the next few days and I'll contact you if we need anything more," Evie told him forcing a smile and wondering about what she had seen.

The VTC was quickly shut off and Evie climbed down to the main floor of the hub and made her way back through the cog door and up through the tourist office. All the way she saw that moment frozen in time over and over again in her head.

The worst part of it all was that she knew who was in those pictures. There was a teenager with light brown hair lying in a pool of his own blood, a chunk of deformed metal in the corner of the photo. In another at the edge of her vision was a different angle of Luke lying dead, but right in front of her eyes was one of Rani staring blankly up, her eyes still open, and glassy. Half under that was a picture of Clyde on his front, and it might have been questionable about whether or not he was dead if she could not also see what had happened to his two best friends.

The whole trip home she wondered about the pictures and what they really meant.

She rode the elevator in the apartment building up without realizing it, and made her way into her darkened apartment barely noticing as she fed Penny and the fishes. She carried Penny into the bedroom and got ready for bed the image burning into her eyes.

When she closed her eyes it was still there.

It was a long time before she could sleep.

_**XX**_

"_Mara," a sneering voice said with clear harm intended._

"_I'm sorry were you talking to me?" Evie replied looking at the man in front of her. Had he not been the evil she so adamantly opposed he might have been handsome, "My name is _Evie_ after all."_

_**XX**_

"_We're so glad you're back," a pretty woman was saying her eyes gleaming with tears. Evie smiled over at her and pulled her into an impulsive hug._

"_I'm glad I'm back too," Evie felt two hearts thumping in her chest and shuddered at what could have happened._

_**XX**_

_Evie was screaming and banging on glass walls with all her might. Her hands were bruised and her fingers bloody from scrapping at the tightly fitted door._

_Jack was watching her with the saddest look in his eyes as though his whole life was collapsing in front of him. It was a look Evie would have thought would be reserved for Alice's death._

_**XX**_

_Evie was staring at her locket the chain having snapped. The patterns on the locket case had a deep meaning, one that she knew she should understand. But she just couldn't._

_She had stared at it every night since Martha told her._

_**XX**_

Evie sat up with a gasp her dreams already beginning to fade.

There was something important that was slipping rapidly from her fingers, if only she could grasp and hold it. But it was like cupping water in your bare hands. It seems to work for a moment, but soon the water is gone and all you're left with is a slight dampness to your hands.

Evie lay in bed a long time staring at ceiling before looking over at her alarm clock. 4:30.

It was really too early to be up generally, but Evie wouldn't get anymore sleep that night, and she didn't really want to if she had dreams that disturbed her as much as these had. So Evie got up and Penny looked up drowsily from the bed at the woman who cared for her. But then the little dog set her head on her paws and went back to sleep.

At least one of them could.

Evie took a long shower and pulled on a pair of black slacks and a white button-down top with a light blue vest before making her way to the kitchen to eat something.

But Evie found herself staring at the cupboards not believing she had only been gone two days. There was water left in the kettle, and dishes in the sink to be washed. She still had the pork she had bought for supper a few days ago, and hadn't made yet. The pastries she bought just before getting a call from Emma about Rift activity that she had forgotten the same day she had run off to London were still sitting on the counter in their little brown paper bag.

It was wholly ordinary, and it suited her mood not at all. Even the calming shade of blue she had picked with Jack (mostly just she had picked) seemed out of place that morning and Evie found herself putting out food and grabbing her coat (which had once been Jack's) and leaving the apartment, almost forgetting to lock to the door behind her.

So it was that she found herself at the bakery just as it opened at 5:30, and ordering a pastry and a coffee, which seemed bitter enough to fit her mood. It was far too bitter and she only drank a sip or two. There was a reason she hated the stuff.

Evie was in the hub by six, and Emma popped down to tell Evie she was in half an hour later.

Evie spent the morning trying to get in touch with her team out in the Himalayas. It was not as easy as it might sound. She had to do a lot of hacking and firewall building and calling people across the globe to get information.

Evie worked right past lunch without noticing, and would have worked through dinner as well but Emma came down to collect Evie telling her that there was Rift activity by the bay.

She Evie went out to deal with it.

_**XX**_

Gwen and the rest of the team were already on their way back when Evie finally reached them two days later. They had stopped in a little town for provisions before heading deeper into the mountain range when they heard that the prime minister and the American president had been shot. They had turned around right then realizing that it had been a wild goose chase to keep Torchwood busy, as Evie had warned them.

The team showed up about a week later.

Emma threw a party in the hub for their return and worked a smile out of Evie, who had smiled very little since she returned from London. She had dreams every night, and none of them made much sense, and a number of them scared Evie. She was sleeping little and was watching all of Cardiff like a hawk for the TARDIS without telling her team.

All of Torchwood Three worried about sending Evie home every night, for the very fact that it looked like she didn't sleep at all. Owen had long since asked her what had happened, because he had seen her frequent headaches. Frequently the headaches left her almost doubled over in pain her hands gripping her head while she slumped over her body seemingly unable to support itself.

But Evie still went out on the field.

Everyone else (save Emma) did as much as they could to save Evie the worry, because she was clearly unwell and refusing to speak about any of it.

One day Ianto confronted her on it, over two weeks after they returned from their foray into the Himalayas.

"Evie," Ianto said helping her sit up after one of her really bad headaches, "What happened?"

"Nothing, just a headache. Could you see if you could get me something for the pain from Owen?" Evie said pretending to smile. It was an obvious fake.

"No, not until you explain to me everything that happened the week we were gone," Ianto answered smoothly holding Evie still so she couldn't run off without answering him.

"There are reports from UNIT explaining everything," Evie said trying to wriggle away.

"Yes, I read about that. What happened to you?" Ianto asked looking truly concerned.

Evie looked at the man she had long called her best friend for a very long moment. She could easily just tell him. Tell him about being a Time Lady, about the dreams, about the golden glow that frequently rested just in the corner of her eyes, or the way Emma seemed to blaze like the sun sometimes, or how Gwen was always tinged, just a little, with the same golden light.

But she could just as easily keep it to herself. Never tell him. Only Jack, Martha, and the Doctor would ever know about her.

But that wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair to Ianto who was so genuinely concerned about her. It wasn't fair to Owen who should know the conclusion to the battery of tests he had to run on her. It wasn't fair to Jack who would have to hide even more from the team. It wasn't fair to Evie herself who would have to work through her pain alone.

"We found out what is wrong with me," Evie finally said her voice resigned, "why I blank out, why I have strange dreams, and why Owen couldn't figure it out. I'm not human."

"Wouldn't Owen have found that?" Ianto asked looking concerned about the idea that they couldn't tell an alien from a human anymore.

"No, because there's a device that they use to turn themselves into any other species," Evie told him fiddling with her locket drawing Ianto's gaze to the small silver oval of metal, "So I look human to every test that Owen could ever run on me."

"So what species are you?" Ianto asked softly trying to make Evie talk about it.

"A time lady apparently," Evie replied sullenly, "There were only two others. The Master, who pretended to be Saxon, and the Doctor."

"The Doctor, like Torchwood was founded to guard against him, that Doctor?" Ianto asked reeling a little in shock. He had seen the briefest of glimpses of the man when he had been in Torchwood One just before the Battle of Canary Wharf.

"Yeah, that one," Evie replied looking away. The Doctor was a good man, and interesting man, and generally a good guy to have around if you're in a bind. But all the same it was shaming to have to admit that everything that you are is a lie.

There was a long moment of silence between them. Neither of them was looking at the other. But suddenly Ianto leaned forward and drew Evie into a hug, that the woman had needed since that night weeks ago when Martha and Jack had revealed to her what she was.

So Evie let go her long held back tears and cried unashamedly on Ianto's shoulder.

_**XX**_

The next day the whole team knew, and none of them were making any deal of it. Owen made a joke about it having been obvious since she didn't like pizza, coffee, or alcohol. Evie had thrown a pen at him and everyone had laughed good-naturedly.

That evening Rhys proposed to Gwen and suddenly the Torchwood women found themselves spending all their free time looking at dresses and picking out color schemes, and looking at bridesmaids' dresses. All three of the women were invited to be bridesmaids while an old friend of Gwen's from childhood forward was going to be her maid of honor.

Time flew by until it had been almost two months since Harold Saxon was elected Prime Minister, and Evie realized that even with the Doctor's bad driving skills they were late. Likely she would have to slap the man again the next time she saw him.

It was then that Rift activity was registered once again, and shortly thereafter, before they could even start tracing the Rift activity, they got a call from the police about what looked like a walking fish stealing a sports car.

So it was that Evie, Gwen, Ianto, Tosh, and Owen all piled into the SUV and went chasing in the direction the police said they were last spotted. Evie was speeding down the semi-deserted roads at top speed making Owen green around the edges and Tosh grip her seat tightly.

Soon they saw a sports car far ahead, but it turned a corner before they could catch up. By the time they had turned the same corner it had disappeared, and there was no real way to figure out which way the blowfish had gone. They were in luck in that an older woman was on the side of the road looking a bit stunned.

"Have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?" Gwen asked kindly leaning out the open window a little.

The woman mutely pointed and Gwen smiled lightly and thanked her. Evie sped off in the direction indicated and in her mirror she saw the woman shaking her head and laughed lightly, much to her team's confusion. She didn't explain it to them.

They finally begin to catch up to the blowfish and Evie quite calmly glanced over at Gwen.

"We have two stupid choices," Evie told the whole car, which had gone quiet, "Either you can stand and lean out the window and try to take a shot. Or I can lean out the window and try to get a shot with my stungun."

Needless to say Gwen unbuckled and rolled down her window. As dangerous as being in a car with Evie usually way, the idea of her not having her eyes on the road and her hands on the wheel scared all of them shitless.

Gwen took a couple of shots before finally blowing a hole in one of the tires. The sports car veered around a corner and Gwen brought herself back into the car looking rather smug.

"Maybe I should have taken the shot. I probably would have gotten him in the first shot," Evie commented looking playful.

"Yes, and then that car would have driven right through a building because the blowfish's foot would still have been on the gas," Gwen said calmly rolling up her window as Evie rounded the same corner that the blowfish had screeched around just a moment before.

"And this is better?" Evie asked pulling the SUV over next to the abandoned sports car. Just as they were all climbing out there were two gunshots from the house the sports car had been left in front of.

They all ran in to find a scene of confusion. The blowfish was holding a young woman close to him, his gun held against her head. There was a man on the ground bleeding, having obviously been the one shot. A woman was standing next to the man looking at the blowfish and the young woman, as though she had no clue what to do.

Gwen pulled the woman out of the room as Owen started looking at the man on the ground and Evie, Ianto, and Tosh stood in the middle of the room. Tosh was holding a scanner, taking all the scans she could of the blowfish. Evie, Tosh, and Ianto all have their guns trained on the blowfish continuously.

"Massive levels of adrenalin mixed with approximately three grams of cocaine. This fish is wired," Tosh commented almost calmly and Evie nodded briefly. That explained it. She had looked over the reports and what had been filed for when she had first met a blowfish almost two years ago. The autopsy had said that it had been wired up on cocaine and alcohol and that had been why he was chased down in the first place.

"So this is Team Torchwood. The teacher's pets, but teacher's gone, hasn't he? Leaving the kiddy-kids all alone. And look at you, trying so hard to be all grown up," The blowfish taunted, "The Doctor, with his hands full of blood. The Carer with her oh-so-beating heart. The Technician, with her cold devices. The Girlfriend who thinks she can do it all without any help. Which leaves me, with the Office Boy, promoted beyond his measure. All of you...lost without your master. All of you...pretending to be so brave. All of you, so scared."

The blowfish laughed and pressed a kiss to the side of the young woman's head and breathing in deeply, as if trying to take in her scent. The girl was whimpering and looking scared out of her wits at this and she leaned away from the blowfish as far as she could.

Evie realized just then that this reaction was what the team, and the blowfish from before had expected of her. Scared and cowering at the fact that a gun was help at her head by a creature that couldn't be human.

"So, what about it, minions? Can you do it? How good are you? How sharp is your aim? What if you kill her?" The blowfish taunted looking between Ianto and Evie who had guns trained on him in the middle of an archway leading from one room to another. "What if I kill her first? Can you shoot, before I do? Can you? Dare you? Would you? Won't you?"

But before either could make any movements there was the sound of a gun firing and a bullet goes through the blowfish's head splattering brains and gore on the curtain and the wall behind him. He looked almost surprised as he crumpled to the ground.

Ianto was looking at his gun in confusion but Evie had already turned, and as such was the first to see Jack standing in the doorway his gun in hand. Evie vaguely noticed as the older woman rushed to the younger woman who was standing in shock in the middle of the room. She almost noticed as Ianto turned to look behind him, and the rest of the team followed suit.

"Hey kids. Did you miss me?" Jack said with a bright joking tone and Evie rushed across the room and threw herself into a tight hug around Jack's neck, and pulled his head down a little, so his lips and hers could meet in a kiss.

_**XX**_

Somehow (Evie couldn't remember) they made their way back to the hub. But she spent the whole time her fingers entwined with Jack's in death grip. He was so late, and she should really be angry with him, but she couldn't be, not really.

Because he was back.

When they made it to the hub Tosh was sent to check the Rift activity while they were gone, and Owen went with the blowfish's body to do an autopsy, Ianto went to make tea, and Gwen to fill out the paperwork for the incident. Evie and Jack went up to Jack's office to talk about what had happened.

"After you left…" Evie started and paused again. A moment later she continued, "I know there was a year that happened, and it got reset to just after the president was shot. I have flashes of memories of things that happened, but it's all unclear and it's gives me migraines like you wouldn't believe. What happened?"

"The Master knew we were there from the beginning," Jack began calmly, "But he pretended he didn't, so no one else would see us. When the president died an army of those Toclafane came through, and started destroying the earth. Martha escaped to earth, but the Doctor and I were caught. The Master aged the Doctor as if he was one hundred, then I was chained in a boiler room, and the Master had fun killing me.

"A long time later he dragged you into the room where I was imprisoned and let you come up to me, you said 'I'll save you' just before the Master pulled you away again. Then the construction started. They built a big glass box, completely sealed and soundproofed. Then when it was done the master dragged you down again, shoved you into the box, and made you watch as he killed me.

"It happened often, but we passed messages back and forth. Through the Jones women. You met them at that party for Lazarus before Christmas, remember? Martha's mother and sister. Finally the Master came in and told you that Luke and his friends were dead, and you raged. You were so angry, and I couldn't do anything to help you.

"Then suddenly you were planning something and pulling us all into it. We all knew that the Master would find out, so we agreed to get you off the ship. You needed to be back on earth where you had been running a significant portion of the resistance. In the process of escaping the Master caught us like we had assumed he would.

"But he made you open your locket. He held you at gunpoint and made you open it, because you had to keep your promise to me. Which, by the way, still stands. And while the Master was preoccupied the Doctor sent you back to earth.

"Martha said she saw you on earth, in London before she came up to the Valiant again. Apparently Ianto was pretty badly wounded, and it was all she and another doctor could do to save the arm, and it was likely it wouldn't heal."

The two sat in silence for a long time. Evie had a single question she wanted to ask, and it was obvious to both of them. But Evie didn't want to say it, and Jack didn't want to answer it without the question having been asked.

"Who am I then?" Evie finally asked.

"The Master called you Mara, and you knew them both before everything. But the Doctor was tight-lipped on the subject and obviously I wasn't going to ask the Master," Jack replied looking at her almost sadly.

"I…"Evie started before breathing in shakily and pausing. There was a headache building again, but she didn't want Jack to see yet, so she pulled on something like a sad smile, "Did the Doctor know me after all?"

"Yeah," Jack said and stepped across the room to wrap his arms around her. Evie should have known she could never keep it hidden from him, "I think you were close. It killed him when he had to send you back to earth alone."

Evie hugged Jack tight and held on with all she could. The headache was fading now, but for just a moment Jack looked like he was blazing silver light, like it was pouring out from every pore and filling the room, the entire hub, maybe all of Cardiff. It was so bright it hurt her eyes and there were still little marks on her sight where she was looking at him.

There was a long moment of silence and then Jack spoke, "I missed you so much. I love you more than I thought I would ever admit to anyone."

Evie's throat choked up, and she sniffed to keep from crying and gripped Jack's shirt a little tighter like a child holding on to whatever they could to prove the world was real.

"It's so lonely without you," Evie murmured into his shirt, "Even with the team it's lonely without you too. It's like it's in color when you're around and when you're not everything is in black and white."

Evie felt Jack nod and there was a kiss pressed to her hair and Evie sighed happily. This is what she needed. Just a little love and attention from the one person she couldn't live without.

_**XX**_

"Evie," A voice called tentatively from the doorway, and Evie pulled herself reluctantly from Jack's arms and opened the door to find Tosh standing there, "Rift activity."

"Okay, get everyone ready. We'll meet you downstairs in a minute, just have to finish something," Evie told her with a little smile in thanks. Tosh turned and rushed back down the stairs called out information to the rest of the team.

"Right back to work then?" Jack said with a smile as he gathered up his coat. Evie smiled back over her shoulder at him and stepped over to him and kissed him softly before leading back down to the main floor.

Andy was on the phone with someone, likely the police about the blowfish earlier, and Emma looked like she had been disturbed in the middle of filing the paperwork for the blowfish by the rest of the team scurrying around her.

"Come on guys," Evie called out and strode into the newly made chaos to gather up the team, "Owen, Tosh, Gwen, and Ianto you're with me on the scene. Emma finish the paperwork and go home. Take the bus, I don't want you walking home alone, I know how scary it can be. Andy keep an eye on the Rift while we're gone. We'll need immediate notification should anything happen."

Suddenly the chaos was order again as Owen put together his med-kit and Gwen and Ianto put together the field kit, and Tosh gathered up the tech she thought was necessary. In less than a minute everyone was ready, so Evie swung her coat around her shoulders and strode off for the garage the whole team following after her.

They had barely made it to the SUV when Andy called them over the comms.

"Hey, the site of the Rift activity now has a police incident tagged. Looks like someone died there. Probably not a coincidence," Andy reported over the comms having most likely just gotten off the phone, "Also Cathy is mad at you for not calling her last week."

"Cathy can wait," Evie said quietly letting Jack take the driver's seat and taking the seat next to him for herself.

The drive wasn't very long. The garage where the Rift activity had originated was fairly close to the Roald Dahl Plass.

When they got there the police had already yellow-taped the whole area, and Cathy was standing there looking smug.

"This is one of yours isn't it?" Cathy asked as Evie climbed out of the SUV.

"Of course, more than half of what happens in Cardiff is," Evie joked right along. Cathy look past Evie for just a second and paused looking over her shoulder. Then her eyes widened just a bit and she looked right back at Evie's face again.

"I see someone's finally back," She said with a little smirk and Evie laughed a bit.

"Yep," Evie said grinning brighter than anyone had seen since the Saxon was elected, "Jack's finally decided to show his face. But what do we have here. We're pretty sure our bit is involved in this one."

"Yeah, we found him at the bottom of the car park, and while most people might say suicide first he's got some marks like bruising, so we're looking at murder, or at least manslaughter here," Cathy said getting down to business and leading the team over to the scene.

"Owen and Tosh," Evie said shortly looking over her shoulder at the two and they rushed to take some scans and a physical look of the body, "Any witnesses or anything?" Evie asked Cathy completely in control. Jack drifted off to look at the body as well and Cathy smiled over at Evie.

"When did he get back?" Cathy asked knowing how much his presence had to mean to the younger woman.

"Just a little while ago," Evie replied with a contented smile, "I'm looking forward to dealing with whatever this is, because I've missed him."

"I can imagine," Cathy commented and paused looking at Evie for a long moment, "So when do you think he'll pop the question."

"What?" Evie said leaning back obviously surprised at the question. Sure she'd had daydreams and dreams at night of Jack asking her to marry him. Of them living their lives together, of a nice little house in a good neighborhood with a white picket fence. But she hadn't seriously thought that Jack might propose. It was a miracle as it was that Jack admitted aloud that he was in love with her, let alone proclaiming it to the world.

"You're obviously completely and madly in love with him. He feels the same way, why wouldn't he ask?" Cathy inquired her arms crossed in front of her chest, "Unless you're planning on asking him?"

"No, I wasn't," Evie said still looking a little dazed. Was there really any possibility of them having a little wedding with friends and family only (i.e. Torchwood)? Of Evie having a big white dress or walking down the aisle?

"Then you haven't thought about him proposing I suppose?" Cathy asked taking pity on the blond woman and setting her hand on Evie's shoulder.

"No," Evie said looking over at the dark-skinned woman, "Jack doesn't do relationships. The fact that he was willing to be in one with me, and that he's willing to tell me he loves me is a miracle in itself. Given that it's almost laughable that he might ask me to marry him."

"I bet you ten quid he will," Cathy said laughing a little to lighten the mood.

"I'll take that bet," Evie replied with a smile of her own.

Just then the team finished up with the body and made their way back over to where Evie was standing. Evie felt a brief stab of guilt over having done nothing to help while everyone else was busy, but she shoved it down along with this new idea of marriage and said her goodbyes to her friend.

They all gathered up at the SUV, and Jack was just starting to tell Evie what they had found when his vortex manipulator beeped. They both froze and looked at it as though it had turned into a snake. There were only a couple of times it would ever beep. If there was a message, a health problem with the person using it, or a serious danger of bacterial, radioactive, or viral nature.

"That thing never beeps," Ianto commented looking surprised. Evie jumped a little because she had forgotten he had come along, likely he had been organizing the results as Tosh and Owen took them down to make it easier for him or Emma to file later.

"I know," Jack said starting to gain his composure back. So Jack pressed a button out of the multitude that Evie still couldn't figure out (she hadn't really tried all that hard). Then suddenly there was a hologram of a man standing in front of them. His coat was old, looking like it had come straight from the 1700s, and it obviously hadn't been as meticulously cared for as Jack's greatcoats. The man probably would have looked pretty nice, but he had this air about him, even in a hologram, that screamed 'I'm the bad guy! Look I'm important because I make myself so!'

"I can't believe I got the answer machine!" The man said looking actually outraged at that idea, "What can you be doing that's more important than me? Anyway, you've probably traced the energy shift, found the body. All me, sorry about the mess. Bill me for the clean-up. Now..." The man stopped and clapped his hands together rubbing them eagerly, "Drinks! Retrolock the transmission coordinates, that's where I am. And hurry up, work to do!" Then there was a sudden shift in his demeanor and he leaned over and did a Star Wars impression looking about worriedly before saying, "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"

"I don't think I'll ever like this ass," Evie commented wryly grabbing the door handle for the SUV.

"No," Jack said a bit snappily grabbing hold of Evie's hand a little tighter than he had to, "Stay here."

"I'm not staying behind," Evie told him straight off, "I don't care if it's dangerous, I don't care if it's an ex. I'm going to come with you, and I'm going to do what I can to keep you safe, and here, with me. I'd prefer you not go missing for three months again."

There was a long pause before jack let go of Evie's hand and stepped around the car to get in the driver's seat. The team moved as if to join them, but Evie waved them away.

"What's going on?" Ianto asked looking straight as Evie as she was about to close the door.

"Who knows," Evie said with a grin, "But I bet it's gonna be great."

_**XX**_

When they stopped at the coordinates the man had sent to Jack, it was at a club that Evie knew that Owen had frequented during his slumps just after Diane left. Evie had to drive down a number of times to collect him so they could sober him up enough that he didn't kill himself or someone else.

It was a basic sort of place, a decent size, and served the really expensive alcohol, alongside the truly cheap stuff that tastes like swill. The decorations were mostly tasteful, but it was a little too glass-and-metal for Evie personal taste the times she had marched in to march Owen out.

"Stay out here," Jack said, but je was more begging than ordering.

"I won't," Evie said smiling over at him. There was a pause and Jack smiled and pressed a light kiss to Evie's lips before the two of them got out of the SUV together.

When they walked into the club it was to find the man from the hologram sitting at the bar drinking shot after shot. He didn't seem to notice them for about a fraction of a second and when he did turn to see them it was to see them holding hands their respective guns trained on him.

"So, you've found yourself a pretty girl?" The man asked looking almost sad through an arrogant veneer.

"I'm more than that," Evie defended herself calmly.

"This is Evie," Jack said as civil as imaginable, but all the same his gun was trained on the man's head.

"Well, what are you wearing today then?" He asked casually his eyes wandering occasionally to Evie's face, before training back on Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness, note the stripes" Jack replied and Evie looked questioning at him for just a second. He still hadn't told her his real name, all he knew was that Jack Harkness was not it.

"Captain John Hart, note the sarcasm" he replied stepping away from the bar. Neither Jack nor Evie moved as John took several more steps forward.

"Hey, I worked my way up through the ranks." Jack complained and Evie knew he was faking something, and as he took a step forward Evie released his hand and switched which hand was holding the stungun.

"I bet the ranks were very grateful," John said snidely and Evie nearly ground her teeth, "I need a drink."

"I thought you'd never ask," Jack replied with a little smile that looked real, but Evie could see the way his shoulders were tense and his back was straight as a rail. He didn't rust 'John Hart' and he was never likely to do so.

"What are we drinking then?" Evie asked walking a little faster than the two men and getting behind the bar.

John just grabbed a bottle and bites the spout off before offering the bottle to Jack, who refused, and quaffing down a gulp. Then he turned around and leaned against the bar not looking at Evie, and she caught the slight. He was ignoring her, as if she wasn't there, as though she didn't exist, as though Jack was all his.

But Evie knew the truth. It was an empty gesture. All three of them in that room knew full well that Evie was Jack's, and Jack was Evie's and John played no part in that equation.

"So...how was rehab?" Jack inquired and Evie felt the emptiness of the question. It was to fill the silence and it was stop things from getting too very awkward too quickly. Eventually they would have to get down to it. He had killed a man and he had to leave, and leave soon.

"Rehabs," John said smiling and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "Plural."

"Drink, drugs, sex and..." Jack asked and there was the tiniest grain of real interest there.

"Murder," With that one word Evie's insides froze and she wanted him gone. She wanted John Hart gone so badly it physically hurt. Or maybe it was her head because there was a tinge of golden light around John Hart and her head was hurting again. Hurting like it had when she first came back and tried to figure out what on earth had happened in those few hours which were a whole year.

"A-ha ha!" Jack forced a laugh and a smile at those words, "You went to murder rehab?"

"I know, ridiculous. The odd kill, who does it hurt?" John said with a smile and a laugh.

"Oh, you know, the dead person," Evie said making her voice flippant and sarcastic. John turned and gave her a look that said shut-up-you-stupid-person. Evie shot him back one that said go-burn-in-hell-you-moronic-murderous-idiot.

"You clean now?" Jack asked turning serious.

"Yeah. Kicked everything. Living like a priest," John says his bottle of alcohol still in his hands telling lie to his words.

"So, how's the Time Agency?" Jack asked and Evie stiffened. Jack never talked about them. Not when he could avoid it. He had liked it when he was a part of it, but it seemed as soon as they erased two years he hated the organization and everything it have ever stood for.

"You didn't hear?" Whatever it was Jack obviously hadn't heard from the look on his face, "It's...shut down."

"You're kidding," Jack looked distressed but there was this tiny kernel of glee in his eyes that Evie rejoiced in.

"No. There's only seven of us left now," John replied, he looked genuinely upset about this. Perhaps this was the kind of person they wanted there. Sneaks, murderers, liars, and generally bad people.

"Wow," This one seemed genuine. He seemed to be truly amazed that the Time Agency was gone. But that's the thing about time travel. Even though they're gone at the time that John comes from they still exist in other times, because they had been there. Likely they'd all be gone for real by the time the 51st century comes around the slow way.

"It's good to see you. It was never the same without you," John said and his eyes made a fast trip to Evie's face as Jack leaned forward, but John leaned forward as well as though he was expecting a kiss. Evie knew better. Jack knew what happened the last time Evie thought he had betrayed her. It wasn't anywhere near pretty and Jack was highly unlikely to ever try it again.

"You need to go. I don't want you on my territory" Jack said seriously his face only an inch or two from John's. Jack leaned away as John jumped from his seat looking outraged.

"Time was, you couldn't get enough of me on your "territory"," John taunted and moving faster than Evie would have thought she could follow he grabbed his gun off the counter and shoots out the glass of the front door, making Jack dodge down, before spinning John shot out the glass for the back door as well.

"All right, everybody out!" John called looking upset still. The front door opened to reveal Gwen and Ianto. Evie couldn't help but snigger as they come in defensively Ianto covering Gwen's side.

"Everything all right, Jack? Evie?" Gwen asked looking to their two commanders.

"It's okay, okay, okay!" Jack said quickly as Owen and Tosh came in through the back door.

"You've got a team! How sweet! Oh, pretty little friends! No blonde, though. You need a blonde," John said ruffling his own blond hair.

"And what am I?" Evie asked leaning against the counter looking at the man in front of her, his gun still cocked.

"A red-head," John answered quickly.

"I'm more blond than red," Evie scoffed, "No, you don't want to admit that I have more of Jack's heart than you ever did. Obviously more intelligence too."

"Oh, do you have a team name? I love team names, go on!" John said ignoring Evie again, although he has tensed and it was obvious that she had struck a nerve. A really really big one.

"Torchwood," Jack answered easily.

"Oh. Not Excalibur? Blizzard? Bikini Cops? No? Torchwood. Oh, dear," John looked a bit disappointed, but Evie liked it. It was simple, and so much more than it sounded. The name was unusual, but not likely to be noticed right off. It didn't sound military, and it sounded even less sexual.

"Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, meet-" Jack started to introduce them around like a nice host, but John cut in to finish it himself.

"Captain John Hart," John said with a grin lowering his gun at last and putting it in the holster on his leg.

"We go back," Jack said not looking at all happy about the connection.

"Excuse me. We more than go back. We were partners," John replied and Evie saw where this was going. She had already caught that they had likely had a sexual relationship in the past, and she even saw that John likely still had feelings for Jack, but at the same time she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to hear them talking about old times and how they used to be an item.

"In what way?" But Ianto had to ask the question and now it was going to be said, and she was going to be awkward until they could send Captain John Hart on his way. Preferably to prison somewhere.

"In every way. And then some," John replied smugly looking over at Evie.

"It was two weeks," Jack defended looking over at Evie as well. There was a pleading in his eyes, pleading her to not think about it, to believe that he was all hers now.

"Except that two weeks was trapped in a time loop, so we were together for five years. It was like having a wife," John said a complaining tone at the end of it all. As if he didn't like it.

"You were the wife," Jack argued trying to save his manly pride.

"You were the wife," John retorted.

"No, you were the wife," They were like kindergarteners.

"Oh, but I was a good wife," John said and for half a second she could see a little appeal in his looks. What Jack probably went for all those years ago. But then she remembered that he had killed someone earlier this evening and he had obviously done so before that, and in all probability he would do so again.

"I bet you were," Tosh said a little too eagerly, "What? Don't pretend you haven't noticed, he's cute."

"They're just shy," John said looking over at Tosh and winking.

"What are you doing here?" Jack said drawing John's attention back to him.

"I was wondering when we'd get to that," John said looking almost disappointed at this turn of events. But he opened up his wristband and punched a couple of buttons for some reason or other.

"That's the same as yours," Tosh said looking surprised. If these two went 'way back' should it really have surprised her that they had the same technology?

"A little smaller," Jack pointed out and Evie realized he was right. He was probably smaller in other ways too, but Evie had no interest in actually finding out.

"But lasts much longer," John replied rolling his eyes, "Get two Time Agents in the same room together, it's always about the size of the wrist strap."

"Ah, yes, sorry? What's a Time Agent?" Owen asked looking a little sheepishly guilty, but mostly just curious.

"Organization from the 51st century that travels in time to change things. Technically for the better, not always true," Evie answered taking the heat off Jack. But all the same she wasn't sure exactly where there words were coming from. Did she know that as a time lady, or was it something she saw for just a moment in the archives and forgot about?

"Anyway..." John said looking like he wished he could completely ignore Evie, then he pressed something on his wristband. Then there was a beep and a holographic image of a canister appeared. "I'm working with this woman-beautiful, clever, sexy, yadda yadda yadda-and we both get shot. And as she's dying, she begs me. She tells me about these radiation cluster bombs she'd been working on."

"I don't like the sound of that," Owen complained and Evie nodded a little to show she agreed before turning back to John who was still talking.

"Three canisters, contents beyond toxic, swallowed up in a riftstorm," John finished looking a little sad. Evie couldn't tell if it was sincere or a complete lie. She couldn't read him like Jack.

"And ended up here," Tosh concluded.

"Bingo. That's the downside of your city being built on a rift in space and time. Now, left to their own devices, the radiation'll break down the canisters and then infect your people and planet. They need to be neutralized," John told them and Evie was sure he was lying. But there was the slimmest chance possible he wasn't and thus they would have to track these things down before sending 'Captain' John Hart off to wherever he came from, if he happened to find himself in prison for long standing crimes so be it.

"What do you get out of this?" Jack asked and Evie knew he was just as suspicious as she of John.

"Dying woman's wish," John replied smoothly, but it was clear that Jack wasn't even thinking of believing that was his motive, "Now, there's only one problem: I don't know where they are. Hoping local knowledge might help."

"When we get back to the Hub, I can run a citywide scan on radiation surges and cross-reference that with the rift activity during that time span," Tosh offered by Evie had to stop her in her tracks on that one.

"Sorry, you can't," Evie interrupted before John could say anything.

"Why not?" Tosh asked confused, she had always been able to do things like that before this after all.

"I was a bit bored this morning and I locked up the program so I could try to update and improve it," Evie explained shrugging her shoulders a little, "I'll need at least half an hour to get it unlocked so it will run for anyone, even me."

John looked murderously angry and Jack seemed to be bemused by the new information. Ianto was sighing at her in slight annoyance at her ways.

"Then I suppose we're on our way to the hub so you can unlock the programming," Jack said lightly, "Evie you and I will take the SUV and the captain here to the hub, and the rest of you meet us there."

Jack's transition back into command was flawless. There was no questioning, there were no second thoughts about who should lead, and he had complete control and loyalty.

So Evie and Jack led John out to the SUV and made him climb into the back with the warning that if he messed with anything back there they would do nothing for him, just send him straight home.

The ride was silent but Evie rested her hand on Jack's thigh, and she could practically feel John steaming in the backseat. Jack knew that Evie was letting her jealousy get the best of her, but John was letting his take over as well.

They took the SUV and parked it next to the Roald Dahl Plass and took the tourists entrance in by the water tower. They locked up the SUV and Evie sent a quick message over the commlinks to Andy, who had said he was going to work late at the hub, to come up and get the SUV, and then to go home for the night, and if Emma was still in the office she was to go home as well.

When Evie caught up with the two men at the foot of the water tower John was staring up at it looking rather unimpressed.

"You live in a sculpture? Could you be any more pretentious?" John was asking and Jack gestured to the concrete block which was the invisible lift.

"Get on," Jack ordered and after John stepped up onto the block Jack and Evie followed. It was a little bit tight, but nothing compared to the time they had to squeeze on along with Owen, Gwen, and a rather upset Ianto.

"So your team not allowed in this way?" John asked as Jack gave the order on his vortex manipulator for the lift to start to descend.

"This is the entrance for tourists," Jack told him and the lift started to move.

"I remember the last time you said that," John replied and there was obviously an innuendo hidden in there.

"Where the hell are we...?" John asked in shock as the lift lowered far enough to get a real look into the hub. Jack just smiled proudly and shook his head.

Evie however was grinning ear to ear taking in all the improvements that had been made since she first started work with Torchwood Three two years ago. There was a wide open area in the middle of the hub which would someday be full of desks, and scattered through the area were the desks of the various people on the team, all individualized for the desks owners.

Evie's was a big sturdy wooden desk with rich inlays and silver drawer pulls. There were no less than four computer screens on her desk and a silver keyboard, a tablet, and a mouse cluttering space. There was a small bookshelf set against the side of her desk which was full of books, and a couple of picture frames were lined up taking even more space. A mug had been left on her desk earlier that evening.

Tosh's on the other hand was a glass and silver metal kind of construction, with no drawers at all. The computer tower was resting under the desk, without a cage for it to rest in. Her desk was clear, with all her computer monitors held up off the desk with silver bars of metal, all that was sitting on her desk was her keyboard and mouse.

On the other side of the floor were Gwen and Andy's desks. Gwen had gotten hold of a rather cheap looking desk, which had a pattern of fake wood grain on it. Hers only held one computer screen, but that was all Gwen needed for her basic research that she had to conduct. Hers was every bit as cluttered as Evie's though, she had pictures, forms to be finished and filed, toys from god knows where, little knick-knacks, the occasional book, and a cup and saucer along with a little plate that held a remnant of a doughnut.

Andy's desk was solid metal, but at some point Emma had gotten bored and painted a geometric design across the whole thing in blue and white. Andy had two screens and three phones filling his desk, but he was responsible for most of the calls with various other organizations, like the Cardiff and London Police and occasionally UNIT. Mostly Evie or Jack dealt with everyone else, because Andy hadn't been introduced through yet.

"It's roomy, I'll give you that," John said drawing Evie's attention back. It was then that she noticed Tosh and Ianto standing at the bottom of the lift, while Gwen was standing a little further off with Owen who had his gun trained of the blond man on the lift with their two leaders. It looked like Andy had done as Evie had asked and gone up for the SUV and then home. She was really hoping she wasn't going to see him again tonight, but all the same he'd probably be in around five am.

"Your taste in interior design hasn't got any better, though. What is this, sewer chic?" John asked derogatively.

The lift ground to a stop and Ianto offered a hand to Evie to help her down, which Evie accepted graciously. Then stepping away she made her way to her desk quickly in order to get working on unlocking the program. She heard Jack ordering John to give up his weapons, but she paid little attention.

She was typing away rapidly on her computer trusting her team to deal with John. There were numerous firewalls and blocks and locks that she had set up that she had to pull down and she had to reset older programs without losing her recent work, and she couldn't copy the program.

When Evie finally looked up to announce she was done to was to find the whole team had pulled chairs over and were lounging just out of her line of sight and a chair had been pulled from somewhere for John to sit in, and he looked rather upset that none of the team were speaking with him, just watching him to ensure he didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to. Or anything at all really.

"Okay, we're up," Evie announced running the program as she did. Jack and Tosh both surged eagerly from their seats, and Ianto followed a little slower. Owen and Gwen were left to guard John, who hadn't made a single move to get up anyway.

"Okay, so, seven hours ago we logged a minor surge in rift energy, across three locations," Evie announced as the results came up.

"Seven of us, three locations. That's simple. Two people per canister, one of them gets three," John said from his seat still not getting up, although now he looked like he wanted to.

"Excuse me, I give the orders," Jack said turning to look at John rather unhappily.

"Well, give some, big boy!" John challenged and Evie broke in.

"Enough," Evie said loudly, "John was right enough, except Ianto I want you to go home. You were into work at four this morning and you haven't so much as sat down for more than an hour at a time all day. Go home, go to sleep."

"You were in at the same time," Ianto pointed out calmly.

"Yes, but I took a nap this afternoon and I've had a constant supply of tea all day. I'm good for energy for a couple hours yet, and I don't think this will take more than one," Evie told him dismissively and no one argued after that, although Jack looked as though he would like to.

"Tosh and Owen, take the north," Jack started off then paused for a moment as though unsure.

"John and I will take the docks," Gwen inserted calmly and Evie gazed at her for a moment trying to catch her mind up to what Gwen was doing.

"Right, then that leaves me and Jack for the last location," Evie finished off not letting Jack object although he clearly wanted to.

"Now, given the canisters are radioactive, don't open them, eh?" John shot in and Evie threw a stress ball from her desk at the man.

"Let's go, guys," Gwen said getting up and stretching before striding over to her own desk to gather up her gun and a few other supplies she needs for a mission.

"Gwen, I need a word," Jack said and made his way over to the woman who was digging through the paperwork on her desk to find something.

As they talked quietly the rest of the team moved off to deal with their own things leaving Evie to pull on a pair of shoes and watch over John Hart.

"How'd you meet him?" John asked after a long moment of complete silence between them only broken by the sound of Myfanwy screeching somewhere far overhead.

"A blowfish broke into the bar where I worked and attempted to take me hostage, I had convulsions because a little bit of the blowfish's blood entered my system and they brought be here to check me out," Evie admitted, "We never did figure out why it would have affected me like that, but it's one of life's mysteries and we've long since stopped trying to figure it out."

"Blood from a blowfish made you convulse?" John asked for clarification.

"Yes, that is what I said is it not?" Evie retorted a bit angrily.

"Captain Hart," Gwen called over looking annoyed, "Let's get this over with."

"Gwen, which car are you taking?" Evie asked her shoes finally on and tied correctly despite the fact that Penny had chewed up one of her laces the other day. She'd have to but new ones.

"Mine, which else would I?" Gwen asked pulling a bag onto her back.

"Take the third SUV, I know Owen and Tosh are taking the second, since Owen doesn't like Tosh's car and Tosh doesn't trust Owen's," Evie ordered and Gwen looked a bit annoyed but nodded to show she would do as she was asked.

AS those two walked away to the garage Jakc came over and kissed Evie on the lips. Evie smiled and grabbed her boyfriend's hand before leading him off to the garage.

"I've missed you so much," Jack said again and Evie smiled up at him.

"So you're never to leave me again right?" Evie asked smiling teasingly. She was in a much better mood now that she had Jack right next to her, and his obvious love at her disposal.

"No, never," Jack replied, "I got all the answers I needed. If I ever leave earth again, I'm taking you with me."

_**XX**_

The office building was pretty typical. And by typical, read boring. It was a high-rise building over twenty stories high, and was one of steel and glass nightmares that adds nothing to the area around it, except perhaps when it's brightly lit at night and viewed from a far distance. Otherwise, it was pretty ugly.

The readings that Evie had picked up were coming from the building, and from very high up at that. At least the second to top floor, but once Evie got a bit closer she would be able to narrow the search to the exact floor, then further to the general area of the objects, really at that point there's no point in further narrowing because it would be staring them in the face by then.

She Evie and Jack got into the elevator, and stood a little closer to each other than was really necessary, but it made them feel better after their long separation, and really a little harmless cuddling never hurt anyone. Evie was just looking forward to getting back to their apartment after all this so they could do more than a little kiss and a cuddle.

As the elevator went up Evie was continuously narrowing the search, until somewhere about halfway up the building she realized that it would have to be the roof, which thankfully could be directly accessed from the elevator, so there would be no getting off and taking a ladder and fiddling with a door on the ceiling while trying not to fall off a ladder.

"Up on the roof," Evie told Jack pressing the button gently, as though scared of what might happen once they had retrieved it.

As the door dinged open and they stepped out onto the gravel the second elevator opened to reveal Captain John Hart, his gun already up and steady.

"How on earth did you get here?" Evie asked completely stunned at the man's appearance.

"Vortex manipulator," John replied pointing his gun right at Evie's chest, and Evie didn't dare move more than to grip her locket tucked away in her pocket, where her hand had been resting for warmth in the slight chill of the night.

"What do you want?" Jack asked a bit more boldly than Evie would have dared at that moment in time.

"The canister, behind you," John replied, "get it for me, or I'll shoot your pretty girlfriend you thought would replace me."

"She's not a replacement for anyone," Jack argued, but moved to get the canister watching the gun and John's face as much as he could without tripping over his own feet.

"I'll hardly believe that," John scoffed, "Blond, works with you, intelligent, can carry her own in a firefight. Sounds like me. Which makes her a replacement."

"You're missing a lot of vital characteristics of Evie," Jack complained picking the canister up from the ledge at the very edge of the rooftop, "You're missing her bravery, and how she's willing to give her life for her team, and how she lead a worldwide rebellion against an evil tyrant, and how she's lived through tragedy, and come back ever stronger. You just run away."

"Go," John said gesturing to Evie with his gun, "Gwen is dying, if you can find her you might be able to save her, but I doubt it. Then there those other two, I think the man might have a hole in his leg, a rather big one. He's likely to bleed out if you don't help him."

"What did you do?" Evie asked suddenly furious, she had realized right away that something had probably happened to Gwen, but she never thought she might be dying, and she hadn't even thought that he would need to deal with her and Jack last, and would obviously have gone after Owen and Tosh first.

"I came to get what I wanted, and I've taken steps in that direction," John replied cavalierly his gun still trained on Evie's heart, "Leave."

"I'll kill you," Evie promised, "If even one of them dies, then one day, I will be responsible for you death. This I promise you."

With that Evie looked to Jack, caught his eyes, and climbed into the elevator. Her last sight was of John changing the aim of his gun for Jack's heart.

_**XX**_

Evie sped off to the docks and scanned the area for any life signs bigger than a rabbit. It took her twenty minutes to get through the maze to Gwen. And she found the older woman completely still save her eyes which were moving frantically, and Evie knew immediately she couldn't do anything for her.

So Evie carried the older (and slightly heavier) woman to the SUV, taking care not to jostle her too much, and drove at her top speed through the city to the warehouse where she knew Tosh and Owen would be. Owen would be able to fix her, Evie had complete trust in his ability, she just wished she could have Martha working on Gwen too. Together they would have everything to normal in record time. She'd have to call the Joneses to see if they knew where she was.

But that would have the wait until all this was over with.

When Evie got to the warehouse she was quick about unlocking the doors and getting Owen and Tosh out. They had already bound up Owen's wound pretty well, and there was nothing for Evie to do for the man other than give him a little time off when all this was over.

As Owen and Tosh worked on Gwen (mostly Owen, but he needed a little help sue to his injury, and Tosh was admittedly a hell of a lot more use than Evie would be) Evie watched the sky start to lighten. It was currently that time of morning when the sun hasn't yet broken the horizon to add color, but everything was more gray than black.

It was such a depressing moment of the morning, made ever more so by the fact that Gwen was in the back fighting for her life while Owen worked frantically and there was nothing she could do to help. Anything she could offer would be more getting in the way than anything, so she didn't bother to offer.

Finally Evie heard something she had been hoping for. Gwen.

"Oh, I'm gonna kill that bloody idiot!" Gwen groaned out as Evie sighed in relief and turned to grin at the dark-haired woman.

"I'm glad to see we're on the same page," Evie commented calmly, "Everyone strap in, We're headed to the hub as fast as I can drive, and it would be rather upsetting if one of you got hurt again."

The team scrambled into seats, Tosh climbing over into the front, as Owen slammed the back door the SUV shut and buckled himself in being careful of his wound. He had to help Gwen, since her hands were still a little shaky, and she wasn't really up to doing much of anything.

Then they were zooming off Owen and Gwen complaining on her driving skills loudly from the back as Tosh in the front just turned green and closed her eyes trying not to look out the windows at the world zooming by. They all had a rather fit when Evie turned a corner a bit too fast and two of her wheels lifted off the ground for just a moment.

But they made it to the hub in what was record time even for Evie. Although, by the time they got there she was feeling a little green and the other three had to make little trips into the bathroom on the way into the hub to empty their stomachs. It was as they came back out and found Ianto looking rather upset that they knew something was up.

Within a few words they knew that John had come in down the lift using Jack's vortex manipulator and taken over the med bay. Ianto would have stopped him, but he was all by himself in the hub, since Andy wouldn't be in for at least an hour and Emma had been told to come in late today, and she wouldn't be in until sometime around noon.

So the team cleaned themselves up properly and made their way down to the Med Bay, to find John leaning over the table against one wall, which should have been full of Owen's clean medical instruments, which had all been shoved to one side, making a number of them fall to the floor. Which meant that Owen would have to sterilize them all over again, and that in turn meant that Owen was very cross with Captain John Hart.

So they lined themselves up on the stairs, which hadn't changed much, although they were now a nice bright white, and the railing was a lot more solid, and the stairs had to spread out a little further to accommodate the larger Medical Bay than they had before.

Then Owen cocked his gun loudly and John turned to see them all.

"Oh-kay," John dragged out the word looking from Ianto's gun at one end up to Gwen's which shook just a little more than it normally would what with having been paralyzed for an hour or so then having to empty her stomach after the trip through Cardiff to Evie at the top of the stairs with her stungun and back down to Tosh's gun a little more timid and aimed for his shoulder rather than anything life threatening to Owen's gun at the other end, which was aimed a bit lower than he normally would, but as the man obviously thought with those parts as much as with his brain it was a nice compromise.

"Pretty and resilient. Is that even fair?" John complained and seemed to be trying to work himself out of his bad position.

"I'm sure you've noticed by now," Evie replied with a fake little smile on her face, "You can poison, threaten, and shoot us, but you're not going to stop us, ever. See, I know. Because I can see it."

Evie's vision was going golden again and she wasn't controlling what she was saying anymore.

"All of time and space. They're my _toys_ I've been working towards this team, and this place for over two hundred years. You're nothing more than a little hitch in my plans, and you're not going to stop me from protecting the people I've come to love."

There was a beating noise, and it took Evie a moment to realize it was her heart. Hearts.

Her head was pounding and everything was bright gold, except behind her, just barely sensed was a bright silver presence filling the whole city, all of time with its brilliance. It was so bright.

As Jack came up beside her, Evie dropped her gun and clutched her head instead. It hurt soo bad. She was fingering her locket, would it stop hurting if she opened it?

_No. Don't open it. Don't open it. It's not time yet. The time will come, but not yet._ It was Evie's voice, but so young and so old and the pitch was just a little too high.

"Go to sleep Evie," Jack's voice whispered in her ear. Evie nodded just a little, her head hurt so much. Then Jack said a bit louder, "Tosh, take Evie home, then go home and get some sleep, you've been up all night."

So Tosh lowered her gun and wrapped an arm around Evie's body and lead her away as Evie heard John Hart start to ask, "What did she mean all of time and space?"

_**XX**_

Evie woke in the morning to find Jack wrapped around her, and her memories of the night before were fuzzy. Jack had a small cut on his face which was too minor for his body to fix faster than normal, but he looked worried, like he wasn't sure what was going to happen next.

Evie traced his face lightly with her fingertips, missing waking up next to him. His hair was a bit out of place from moving during the night, and Evie combed it over into place with her fingers, and when she looked down to his face again his eyes were open and watching her. She hadn't even heard his breathing change.

"Good morning," Evie said smiling down at him. Jack sat up and kissed her on the lips before replying in kind.

"How are you?" He asked and Evie looked at him a bit curiously before remembering how bad her head had gotten the night before, "You scared me."

"My head doesn't hurt anymore," Evie replied, "I think there's something wrong with the locket now, because it was opened, but time was reset to before it was opened. It's breaking down, and it almost broke entirely last night, I'll have to see if I can fix it, at least for a little while. I'm not ready to be a Time Lady again. I don't want to risk being someone else."

Jack looked sad, but kissed her forehead, and hugged her close, and Evie reveled in it. It would be some time before it became commonplace again, and until then she was going to soak up every bit of affection he was willing to give her.

_**XX**_

It was almost two hours later when they finally got out of bed, and Evie's first action was to take a long shower, and lock Jack out of the bathroom. Evie laughed at her boyfriend as she pranced out in a light orange blouse and a pair of gray slacks. He tried to catch her, but she pranced right out of his grasp and told him to take a shower.

While he showered Evie got some breakfast (it was really more of a brunch sort of time, but Evie had no motivation to make anything more complicated than bacon and eggs) started and started the electric kettle for some tea for herself. After all, who knew what kind of state Ianto would be in, and she really needed a bit of tea in the mornings.

"What's cooking?" Jack asked wandering in.

"Just bacon and eggs, and if you want coffee you'll have to make it yourself. I'm not going to do it no matter how much I love you, since it'll probably be bad enough to kill you," Evie told him with a grin.

"This morning, as John was leaving he said something," Jack started, then stopped, as though he wasn't sure how to finish.

"What did he say?" Evie asked softly, whatever it was, it was major.

"He found Gray," Jack said and it didn't click for Evie who Gray was. She though Jack might have said something when he was drunk at some point, but all the same, she really didn't know who he was. As that was clear Jack continued, "My little brother. I thought he was dead."

"But to see him again you'll have to deal with Captain Hart again?" Evie asked and touched Jack's hand softly. Jack just nodded. This was the one thing that seemed to weigh most heavily on his mind. His first guilt for anything. His first really big mistake. The first thing that led him down the road to becoming a Time Agent and eventually to meeting the Doctor. So it was a good thing wrapped up in something horrible, it was more of a price to pay than Evie would ever wish on him.

_**XX**_

Things were calmer than they had been since before Bilia Manger for the next two weeks. Evie called up the Joneses only to find out that Martha was on Earth for good and was thinking about taking a job with UNIT, so Evie countered the offer for one at Torchwood Three for a decent chunk more than UNIT offered her.

So before long Martha was moving into the same building as Owen (a nice modern loft just two floors down from Owen and paying about a third of what Jack and Evie paid for theirs). Then the two Doctors (even though Martha had to take one more test to be certified completely) were bickering over all kinds of things in the Medical Bay, so if they weren't fighting about something she and Jack were having a row over the latest speeding ticket, or Ianto and Owen were fighting and Owen drinking decaff again.

But despite it all everything went off with very few hitches. It was like Martha had always been there.

About a month after Martha started Eugene called Evie to announce that he had finished off his Foundation degree, and he had already made a small dent in his Bachelor's degree, so Evie had to keep her promise and hired him on part-time.

Then Jack had to call up the Queen to tell her they had two more employees, and they would need a slightly larger budget in order to pay them, and continue proper operations of the organization. The Queen sent them over a raise of a million pounds a year, enough to pay Martha and Eugene's wages with a little extra to save to upgrade their older equipment, like some of their filing cabinets, which Ianto had been pushing for new ones for months.

Everything was good in life, and Evie had time to tinker a little with her locket, and decided that the best way to block the headaches and the degradation of its effects was to wrap it in silk, then in velvet, them put the whole thing in a wooden box, then the wooden box into an iron one. The silk helped to dissipate its telepathic link with her mind, the velvet kept the silk in place, so there were no gaps, and helped to keep the chain from getting damaged more, the wooden box kept it contained and made it easier to transport if it needed to be with her, because the iron was heavy. Then lastly the iron kept the last bit of connection to her mind blocked. So Evie still couldn't think too hard on the events of the Year that Never Was, but she didn't need to worry about her Time Lady self breaking through in emotional situations.

_**XX**_

_**So…um…I'm sorry?**_

_**I do have a lot of reasons as to why this chapter is so late.**_

_**First, this one is hard to write, and I'll admit I decided to cop out of some of it at the end. But in my defense this is my second time writing it because of my second reason for the lateness, which is that my computer crashed and I lost the 10,000 word chapter that was a couple paragraphs from being done.**_

_**The third reason was that I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I didn't finish my novel, but all my writing time for the whole month of November was eaten up by that.**_

_**Then I had a panic attack about my Latin grade (I will not be taking Latin ever again) and I had a giant fight with my roommate and generally the first two weeks of December sucked.**_

_**So then I spent all my free time working on Christmas presents and writing whenever I had a little bit of time.**_

_**But I did manage to update before the end of the year. So I think I did pretty well over all.**_

_**A massive thank you and a chapter dedication goes to BiJane, who is still as amazing as ever. She's been recently catching me up on a bunch of Classic Who events (specifically the eighth Doctor, the Master, and events on Gallifrey), so you may see a bit of those later.**_

_**Another massive thank you goes to my dear friend Shannon. I would use her penname on fanfiction, but I can't recall it just now…Isabella something I think. But anyway she has been pushing me to get some real work done on Evie through some roleplays with an original character of hers to hash out some of Evie's past at the Academy and such.**_

_**Yet another massive thank you goes to my parents (who will never read this), but they gave me a very Whovian Christmas, and got my creative juices for Evie running.**_


	19. Trials and Romance

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood spans from Sleeper through Meat, and stops before Adam, Doctor Who should be between the end of Series 3 and the beginning of Series 4, and The Sarah Jane Adventures is somewhere around the beginning of Series 3.**_

_**XX**_

Two weeks after Evie solved her problem with her locket there was a strange burglary. Cathy talked the police into calling them in, and in the end Torchwood ended up taking the wife in to talk to her, as one of the burglars was found dead, and the husband had been in rotten shape, while the wife was in perfect health.

In the end they had to stop a potential nuclear crisis because the woman was an alien, one of a kind that disguises themselves as the natives of the planet they're going to invade to discover all it secrets. And the woman from the burglary wasn't the only one.

In the end she made them kill her.

Afterwards Evie thought she saw Emma and Ianto talking in a corner near the hall to Ianto's office, but Evie was trying to deal with all the paperwork for the emergency and she didn't have time to analyze what that might mean till later.

But Evie thought they'd be a sweet couple if they got together.

Then a few weeks later it was time to bring Tommy out only to find out that it was this time that he would have to return to his own past in order to keep time in check.

Evie got a horrible headache being in the old hospital, and Martha spent days afterwards examining her head even though Owen had run all of those tests before when it had first become clear there was something wrong with Evie.

But now that strange radiation that had long since dissipated was back, and it wasn't dying. It was more clinging to her, like it knew its time was coming soon, but it just couldn't bear to let go just yet. The particles stayed constant in number and they didn't spread to the people or areas around her, and did her absolutely no harm that Martha or Owen (who got involved when the test results turned out differently) could tell. So nothing was done about it. But now they were requiring her to come down to the Medical Bay so they could check the count every week to see how things changed.

Jack mother-henned her for a little while after the whole deal with Tommy while Owen and Gwen took care of Tosh, who had been truly hurt by it all. She had a bit of a crush on Tommy, and all the old hands had known it, and Martha and Gwen had picked it up within seconds of Tosh seeing Tommy again.

But before long it was all dying down again only to find that not quite a week later there was an incident with Rhys' company. One of the people they had hired out trucks to was butchering an alien and selling its meat with fake certifications. They had to use Rhys to get in and really find out what was going on, and no one was happy when he volunteered himself. But Jack was too conspicuous, Owen too volatile, and Tosh too gentle to send in. Martha, like Evie, wouldn't carry a gun and so both of them were out of the picture, and Emma was _never_ allowed to go out on field work. Andy was taking a holiday with family. So all that was left was Gwen and Rhys.

But Rhys had the trucks, so they let him be their in.

The poor alien couldn't be saved. There was no way to get it out or to make it comfortable. The damage done to it was irreversible, but they did everything they could in the process of getting caught and escaping their captors. But the alien whale got upset by all the things going on around it and in the end Owen had to euthanize it.

No one was happy that night and most of the team ended up staying at Jack and Evie's place for a little comfort. They pulled out the couch for Tosh and Martha while Ianto slept on the floor. Emma hadn't been there, and thus had been given the evening shift, and Owen refused to admit how hurt he was in what they had to do.

But when Evie woke in the morning, before everyone else, and tiptoed into the kitchen to start some breakfast it was to find that Owen had shown up at some point in the night, and one of the others (likely Ianto, since Evie had thought he was sleeping next to the fish tank but this morning he was next to the couch) had let him in. So smiling a little Evie started cooking, only to be interrupted partway through by Ianto who took over the coffee and tea as everyone else was stretching and yawning and trying to pretend they didn't have to get up now.

While the day before had been a low point, this morning was rather a high one.

_**XX**_

"Are you sure you're fine?" Jack was asking for the fifth time that day after Evie had gone back to their bedroom to get ready after breakfast.

"I'm fine Jack," Evie snapped rather harshly, "I love you, but if you don't stop this soon I'm going to strangle you. I don't really want to kill you, but if that's what it takes I'll do it."

"But your head," Jack protested.

"Hush," Evie ordered, "I think I know what happened to my head before. It was just because there was so much temporal energy in that old hospital, it started to hurt a bit again when things started growing out into the city. It's perfectly fine now. I told you about what happened in the dance hall too. It's places like that. I've got some time left since I started carrying the locket all wrapped up."

"Are you really sure you're fine though?" Jack asked, "This is the last time I'll ask I promise, but tell me the truth."

"I'm fine," Evie told him and stepped close to grab his hands up, "My mortality hurts you more than your own immortality doesn't it? Because I could get hurt and not be able to open my locket and die. But I promise I have time.

"I'll be straight with you, someday the shieldings I created won't hold it back. The Lady will start coming out without me thinking about things I shouldn't remember or being in situations that invoke her, like being around The Doctor. But I have at least a year or two, and who knows what will happen in a year?"

Jack didn't answer just kissed her and looked a little worried, but he did as he promised and he didn't ask her again.

_**XX**_

A few days later there was a big commotion down near the docks, and Torchwood went out to see what had happened.

There was something towering out of the water of the bay and Evie froze, there was something familiar about it, something she had seen before, but it seemed like one of those things from before, back when she was a Time Lady.

The edges of her vision were golden and her head felt heavy, but there wasn't anything particularily intense, not yet at least.

"Jack," Evie said pulling him to the side a little, "It's definitely alien, and it's something I saw before the locket. So be wary okay?"

Jack looked at her worriedly, but nodded anyway, he didn't want to cause problems between the two of them again.

So they lead the team through the gathering crowd and Evie was surprised that her head got no worse. Just the edges of gold, and heaviness of her head. She couldn't even see the bright silver light of Jack's aura, and frequently that was what came first after the gold.

"We search for the last Time Lady, known as Evie," A soft voice came over the din of the crowd. Evie looked to Jack and the shock she felt was mirrored on his face, but they finished shoving to the front of the crowd to find a very pale woman all dressed in white.

"I'm Evie, but I'm not a Time Lady," Evie responded stepping ahead of Jack, who had taken hold of her hand at some point.

"You are the one we seek," The woman said calmly before gesturing to someone inside the ship still. Then there was a bright white lights and Evie turned looking to Jack and finally seeing the silver aura spreading out and encompassing the hot red lines of the Rift and golden swirl around herself and the pale blue lines surrounding the woman in front of her.

Something was different.

Because Evie's head didn't hurt, and she could see things she hadn't before. The time around Gwen was disturbed, something was going to happen in the next couple of months. Owen and Tosh's times were somehow wound together, and her gold and Jack's silver were so tightly wound together that it some places it was impossible to see where one began and the other ended.

There was something pushing gently forward in her mind. The knowledge of a single name. A name she knows. Something very very familiar. But she shouldn't know that, shouldn't remember it, but there was a strong urge to lean over and whisper it ever so quietly in Jack's ear.

"Lady Evie, you must come with us," The woman said as Evie tried to fight down her new vision and thoughts. Something about that light led to all of this. But she hadn't opened the locket, and it hadn't been completely broken, because Evie could see the sparkling golden aura around herself started from the locket, which was still resting in the pocket of the coat she had stolen from Jack.

"What did you do?" Evie demanded, scared of what might have happened. She didn't want to change, didn't want to be someone else, not yet. She wasn't ready yet.

"Simply allowed a small modification to the composition of your mind, it will change itself back in 72 hours. But we need you as the chief character witness for a criminal we have recently caught up with, despite his reported death," The woman explained calmly, but when Evie still didn't move she motioned again to her ship and there was another blindingly bright white light, which lead to the whole world going dark around Evie.

_**XX**_

When Evie woke she found herself in a seat raised above a great set of stands below her, and a set of seats was placed at the same height as her, but across the lowered floor from her. There were three women similar to the one at the docks, and all the way down at the end of the stands a single seat was placed in the middle of the floor.

"The witness is awake," One of the women said her voice almost identical to the one who had spoken to her in Cardiff.

"Bring in the prisoner," The second continued, as though they shared a single brain.

Then doors Evie had not noticed below the stands opened and two aliens, looking like rhinos standing upright led in a man in between them. The man was wearing something she would expect from a professor at Oxford, who had never bothered to catch up on the times. His jacket was tweed, with pads on the elbows to protect them if he had to lean any weight on them, then there was the bowtie, which looked like it had been untied, and retied very rapidly, without any real warning. He had a hat in his hands which he seemed to be reluctant to part with, although it had a hole going through it from something like a bullet, and it was singed in a few places, like someone had tried to burn it.

But more than that Evie remembered seeing this man before. It had been awhile. But she could suddenly remember his face from the dream she had when Jack and Tosh got sent back in time something like a year ago.

This was The Doctor, but this was him quite a bit later than her own linear timeline.

"The accused, known as The Doctor, is present along with The Last Time Lady, known as Evie. Let the trial begin," The third woman finally spoke.

"You are accused of escaping justice and preventing the Shadow Proclamation from completing the task of rescuing the stolen planets, stealing the Jewels of History from the Museum planet of Moo Shoo Koo, kidnapping the princess of Felicious Pleasures the central planet of the Korial system, and several smaller transactions of stealing money from various banks and persons across all of time and space. How do you plead?" One of the women stated calmly.

"I didn't kidnap Princess Fel, she snuck into my TARDIS and hid under the console, I didn't notice until I was almost three thousand years away. She insisted that I not take her back to her planet, but I did take her back to the same year. At least I'm pretty sure it was the same year. Either way she'll turn up eventually if you just look for her," The Doctor explained and Evie laughed from her high perch. It certainly sounded like the sort of thing The Doctor got himself into.

"Oh! Hello Evie! Been a while, not since you and Jack got caught up in that one guy's plot to destroy the earth. Oh, hang on. You're blond. Oooh you're human!" The Doctor looked shocked at the last. Apparently she would eventually open that locket, and this version of The Doctor had most recently saw that version, "Where are we then? The Year already happened I suppose?

When Evie nodded her head The Doctor turned back to the three judges, "She can't be here! She isn't really a Time Lady right now. She won't be for months yet I should think. Evie has Gwen gotten married yet? No? Months!"

"She is the only suitable person to act as character witness. She has been separate from you often enough for objectivity, yet close enough for understanding," One of the judges spoke and when The Doctor attempted to open his mouth again another judge ordered for silence.

"Lady Evie, explain your relationship as you are aware of it to us," The third judge said looking over The Doctor's head.

"Well…um…He's a friend I suppose. I knew him in the past, but I don't know how close we were or anything, so I can't tell you about that. But he's saved my life a couple times, and I've helped him deal with a few of the stranger occurrences on earth," Evie said nervously. She really didn't know what good she was except to know that The Doctor was already plotting his escape, and he had kindly started to factor her in.

But how did she even know that?

Something about the way time was bending around The Doctor, and was now bending around herself. It was odd, but she could see the slight distortions. He already knew where his TARDIS was being kept and he was trying to figure out how to get there without arousing suspicion in anyone, and still get Evie there.

But Evie was bending back against The Doctor's plots trying to find a way to free him safely.

"He will in the future actually come see me in my past. He has to give me a message, because without it two people important to the timeline on earth with live out their lives in the wrong timeline," Evie added in, "He cannot be arrested here. He has to go and see my past self."

There was a long pause.

"We will deliberate your statement," one of the judges replied and there was a white light again, and Evie was out cold.

_**XX**_

"Evie?" A voice was coming through a fog around her mind. It was a man's voice, but it wasn't one that was particularly familiar to her. It wasn't Jack, or Ianto, or Owen, or anyone else on the team's voice, nor was the…

But it was The Doctor's voice. But this was a different Doctor than she had seen before. Or at least seen often before.

"Doctor?" Evie asked looking up at him, and in that moment she realized she was lying on something rather hard and uncomfortable. It was some kind of grating and it was pressing into her back despite the fact that something was laid out underneath her.

Evie tried to sit up, but her head swam and she went right back down and found that her head was on a pillow and not on the grating itself.

So Evie looked around and it came to her that this orange and gold room with every surface glittering and many of them also glowing was in The Doctor's TARDIS.

"Do you feel okay?" The Doctor asked looking down at Evie worriedly still. There was something familiar in his hand; the box that contained her locket.

"Why do have the locket?" Evie asked instead of answering him.

"I was trying to see if I couldn't close up the connection better, but the changes I made only buy you a few extra months. It will break down, and do so more quickly now that the Shadow Proclamation have gone meddling with your mind," The Doctor said looking almost sad, "You have a year at the most, and if you don't open the locket within five months or so it will break down enough that you'll be seeing timelines with your human eyes and mind. Jack will likely blind you."

Evie looked up at him confused and a bit lost. She would go blind if she didn't open the locket? But…she was seeing those things just a little while ago, and it didn't feel like it was going to blind her then.

"The Shadow Proclamation changed your brain and eye chemistries just a little bit, just enough to let you see and process what you were seeing, but if left too long even that would eventually leave you blind without the rest of the bodily processes of a Time Lady. Actually if it wasn't going to wear off in about…oh…24 hours you would be in danger of seriously overtaxing your system and it could kill you," The Doctor responded to Evie's unasked question, and seemed angry with what the Shadow Proclamation had done to her.

"I'll be fine though, right?" Evie asked looking to her friend who she knew so little about, but buried in a locket covered in layers she knew everything about the man in front of her.

"Yes, you'll be fine," The Doctor replied finally setting the box next to her and standing up, "Time to take you back to Cardiff I suppose. What year is it there?"

"2009," Evie replied propping herself up a little with her left arm and picking up the iron box in front of her and moving it around in her hands hearing the noise of the wooden box shifting from side to side and hitting the metal that surrounded it, "Just look for the event of the ship landing near the docks. The day after that would be fine, and aim for the Plass, I'm going to go to the hub first. I expect Jack will be there watching for me there."

The Doctor didn't reply to her words but he started moving nobs and pulling levers and setting dates.

Then there was the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS traveling and landing. The Doctor checked his coordinates again before stepping over to help Evie up off the ground.

"I can't risk crossing my own timeline, so I can't leave the TARDIS, do you think you can walk to the lift on your own?" The Doctor asked gently and Evie nodded grabbing what she had been laying on off the ground (turns out it was The Doctor's jacket), and handed to The Doctor. Then she tucked the box into her pocket and shoved her hands into their pockets on either side of the coat.

"So this is goodbye for a while then?" Evie asked sadly looking up at the man, he was just a little bit taller than her, but it was enough to notice the difference.

"Yeah," The Doctor responded slowly before his face suddenly lit up, "I have a present for you!" Then he rushed off into the depths of his TARDIS and when he returned it was with a black coat in his hands.

It was wool and the top half looked like it would be fitted to the upper body, but the lower half flared out away from the body and trailed down to the knees, and perhaps beyond them even.

"I got this for you a little while ago, but I think it suits you better now than it will in the future. Besides in the future Jack buys you everything you could ever think of wanting or needing long before you actually want or need it," The Doctor told her putting the coat into her arms.

"Thank you," Evie said and leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before stepping down the short flight of stairs and across the open area to the door, she looked back just once, waved, and stepped out of the TARDIS.

_**XX**_

It was days before Jack stopped fussing again. He didn't believe her when she told him that The Doctor had fiddled with her locket and made it so that she wasn't in any danger right now.

"Jack," Evie sighed as he insisted on making her tea for her again that morning, "I'm still capable of making my own tea."

"I know, but I want to do something for you," Jack replied and Evie shook her head exasperated as she took the mug from her boyfriend's hands and bestowed him with a brief kiss before she sipped the still steaming tea.

"Baring alien invasion I've gotten a reservation for seven at that restaurant you like," Jack admitted calmly.

"Which one I like? The jeans-are-appropriate one I like or the I-need-to-go-shopping-for-a-new-cocktail-dress one?"

"Cocktail-dress," Jack admitted with a cheeky grin.

"So do I have the day off for that then?" Evie asked chuckling at Jack's strange behavior. Normally they would just get something on the way home from work if they went out, and just as often as not it was at a pub with someone from the team.

"Of course," Jack replied with his own grin.

"You have to go prevent alien invasions so we can have our date then," Evie said before kissing him again and then shoved him out the door with a thermos of coffee in his hand, "I'll see you tonight."

_**XX**_

True to her word Evie was wearing a new cocktail dress when Jack came home from work at six. He kissed her, and seemed to have designs of getting the new dress off her, so she laughed at him and shoved him into the bedroom to get showered and changed. If she was supposed to wear a cocktail dress, he'd have to wear a suit.

They drove in the SUV to the restaurant, since neither of them had bothered to get another car yet, and their reservation was honored and they got a table next to one of the walls, in a quiet corner, lit by candle light and mood lights on the ceiling.

"So what was the special occasion?" Evie asked shrugging off the coat The Doctor had given her and putting it on the back of her seat, as Jack perused the wine selection.

"Just," Jack started and paused looking at Evie gently, "It's nothing really. I just wanted to take you out to a nice dinner. Things have been crazy lately, and I haven't had a chance to spoil you."

"You're trying to hide something, and doing it badly," Evie told him, but dropped the subject.

The talked about little things, Gwen's upcoming wedding and the fact that Emma was obviously infatuated with Ianto, and Steven's recent good grades in school.

They had salads and they both ordered steaks for the main course, and finally when Evie thought they were done Jack ordered them both desserts, cheesecake for Evie and a hot fudge cake with vanilla ice cream for himself.

When the desserts came Jack suddenly got fidgety and Evie laughed at him knowing that whatever he was hiding was coming up sometime very soon.

But he wasn't speaking.

"Okay, just cough it up, what's this all about?" Evie finally demanded cheerily grinning over at her boyfriend.

"Eveleen Rhiangar Smith will you marry me?" Jack asked sliding a little blue velvet box across the table.

Evie froze. She didn't know what she had been expecting (what else should she have expected it was practically a cliché), but somehow it hadn't been a proposal. In her mind it seemed as though they would always date, and they would live together, and they would be together, but never marriage. Marriage had never crossed her mind, not realistically.

Sure, Cathy had told her that it had to be coming, Alice had jokingly asked when she and Jack were going to get married, but it had always been abstract.

But now it wasn't.

Now there was a ring in front of her and Jack watching her, his eyes begging for a response.

"Of course you idiot," Evie said smiling and opened the box to find a simple silver ring with a single diamond in the middle and slipped it over her finger, "You realize I get to torture you with wedding plans now right?"

There was a pretend groan but they paid for their meal and went home and made a beeline for the bedroom.

The ring didn't come off all night, although everything else did.

_**XX**_

_**So….I'm late again. Sorry about that, but life has caught up with me again. I spent the Monday before last sobbing because life had gotten the better of me.**_

_**This is a really short chapter, but depending on my inspiration the next chapter might be ridiculously long. I might be covering The Sontaran Stratagem and Poison Sky next, but if my inspiration runs away from me, I'll be doing a quick skip over of it (like I've done for three episodes in this chapter) and moving on to the next episode of Torchwood, which is Adam, and either going to be really easy to write, or really really hard.**_

_**I've been leading up to Jack and Evie getting engaged since the episode Captain Jack Harkness (if anyone's wondering that's why Jack was weird and distant at the beginning), and I've finally gotten it in. So yay me!**_

_**A quick dedication to BiJane, who gave me the idea for this chapter, and to Shannon who's been bugging me to write for the last couple of days.**_

_**Please tell me what you all think of the chapter. I think I might have rushed all the trial stuff, and if a bunch of people agree with me I might go back and rewrite it (again it's dependent on inspiration).**_


	20. Reset

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood goes from the end of Adam to the end of Reset, Doctor Who should be somewhere in Season 4 (possibly early), and The Sarah Jane Adventures is somewhere around the beginning of Series 3.**_

_**XX**_

Evie jerked away and a tiny gasp and looked around the room. She had been slumped over the table in the conference room and her back was protesting her sudden movement, and there was a tight little crick in her neck, so she didn't really want to straighten it all the way. But she already had when she sat up, of course.

But slumped over the table around her were her teammates. At least the ones who were working at the moment. Evie was at the head of the table, Tosh on one side and Ianto on the other, beyond them were Gwen and Ianto. Where was Jack? He was supposed to be working too.

But how had they all ended up here anyways? Last Evie remember she was kissing Jack before heading home. He had some more work to do, and she was going to actually cook them dinner for once. But she had been in the garage with him, and now she was in the Conference room.

But she knew she shouldn't pick at what she couldn't remember. It would probably hurt.

Had there been another time paradox, like the Year that Never Was? Had she opened the locket again (bright gold light, a glimpse of silver, pain)?

Just then one of the two doors into the room opened and Jack sidled in silently. She smiled at him and he put a finger to his lips and gestured for her to follow him out. Evie smiled and pushed the rolling chair back with a little pop from somewhere inside it as it protested the movement. Evie looked guiltily over at her teammate but found none of them had stirred, in fact it sounded like Ianto was snoring a little and there was a little trail of drool running out the corner of Owen's mouth.

But the door shut silently behind the couple and the crept down the stairs to the large work area where they sat down at Evie's desk to find out what had happened. All Hub CCTV went to Evie's computer and was routed out to the rest of the network, so the files to tell them why they had all woken up somewhere they hadn't been before should be on her computer.

But they weren't.

"What happened?" Evie said looking at the timestamp for the deleted files that had been encrypted and locked in a way that told Evie she didn't want to try to restore them. They were from five hours ago. But it was two full days after she remembered heading out to make dinner.

"I don't know. But that looks like some serious firewalls you've got on there," Jack responded looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I mean if I deleted them, then cleared out my recycle bin, then tracked down the files and encrypted them this seriously. I don't want me to know," Evie told him turning her head to look at him, "I mean I could crack these. I made them. I could probably un-make them too, but I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"I think you're right," Jack responded with a sigh. Evie turned her chair so she was facing him properly and smiled up at him.

"It can't have been good. But I doubt it was all that bad if we're all perfectly fine," Evie told him, and just then her computer pinged incessantly and she turned back around to take care of it.

An alert had just come up saying "DO NOT UNENCRYPT FILES. DO NOT TRY TO REMEMBER."

"I think that just made the case for us didn't it," Jack said with a wry chuckle that said he wasn't really content with this solution, but they didn't have any other options.

"So, blue or green ribbon and tulle for the wedding?" Evie asked with a wide grin, and it got her a genuine laugh from her fiancé. It was nice to hear.

_**XX**_

"So, we're not allowed to know what happened?" Gwen asked looking from Jack to Evie and back again before glancing over at the other three who had been sleeping in the conference room.

"No, it seems Evie even left herself a note to tell her not to go digging," Jack responded with a shrug. It was a mystery they were never going to solve, and hopefully it wasn't one that was going to make its way back into their lives anytime soon.

"So, something happened, and we erased, well Evie erased, the evidence then we all retconned ourselves?" Ianto asked looking at Evie, and there was the barest flicker of something in Evie's mind. It felt a lot like guilt. But she refused to look at it. To try to remember.

"Yeah, there are exactly six retcon tablets missing, just the two days we can't remember out of CCTV footage. And some of the files weren't for the hub, so whatever happened, it didn't just happen here," Evie told them calmly, "In fact I think that we went on a Weevil hunt because there's a bunch of snippets of footage missing from clear pathways."

"So we're just going to leave it?" Gwen was looking at Evie and Jack like they were stupid people, but Evie nodded while Jack responded.

"Yes, because we don't know what will happen if we don't. Gwen, we already know you can break retcon. Don't do it this time. Don't put us all into danger because you're curious," Jack told her sternly, "Curiosity killed the cat, and nothing's going to bring it back."

Gwen looked stubborn, but nodded anyways. Tosh was nodding her head enthusiastically, and the boys seemed in agreement as well, so Evie pushed it to the back of her mind and moved to get on with her life. Maybe she could get Jack to agree to purple, since he seemed so against blue, green, and red.

_**XX**_

Life went on.

Emma came into work the day after they all woke up missing two days with a happy grin and a box full of bagels. She had gone to a nursing home over her days off and had volunteered to read to the blind, and those who could no longer hold a book, or their own attention long enough to read. She never seemed to notice that things were tense for the original team.

Andy, who had been on vacation, came back took one look at Gwen and asked the nearest man (it happened to be Ianto) if she was on her period. Gwen had thrown a book at her former partner and had spent the rest of the day holed up deep in the archives by herself. Andy didn't seem to understand that he had done something wrong, but he had a list of names which might be good for his department for Evie and Jack to look over.

Martha got back the day after Andy, she had gotten a few days off the spend with her family, and she immediately made Owen clean his desk because she couldn't work in a rat's nest like the one he had created in the last three days since they had woken up in the hub. There had been a screaming row between Martha and Owen before Jack finally broke them up and gave Owen a couple weevils to autopsy and take down to the freezers. Martha was in a terrible mood the whole rest of the day and much of the next, but in the end Owen cleaned his desk and the two were able to (tensely) work together.

_**XX**_

"Why are Alice and Steven coming over again," Jack whined looking pathetic.

"Because you and I are engaged and _I_ want a family dinner. They're your family, so they're coming for dinner," Evie told him plainly while she tied an apron around her waist and pulled a huge mixing bowl from one of the highest shelves.

"But now? Now that we've only just got things settled at work again, what with Martha and Owen sniping at each other constantly, and Gwen coming into work angry almost every day and staying late more often than not. I think she and Rhys are arguing again, but you'll have to deal with that because neither of them ever listens to me," Jack continued as he helped her with the bowl, it was really up too high for Evie to reach properly. They should find a better place for it, but they only ever used it when Evie wanted to bake, and that wasn't very frequent.

"I'll sit down with her tomorrow then," Evie told him calmly, "Go get me the flour and the vegetable oil. But really, things are calm, so we can take the better part of a day off and make a lovely dinner and have a nice time with your daughter and your grandson. And tell Alice that we're engaged, since I know you didn't call her like I asked. It's been almost two weeks, everyone in Torchwood knows by now, and Gwen's been at me about dates to make sure her wedding and honeymoon won't interfere with ours. So we do need to talk about these things, but first step is the make sure all the people important in our lives are aware. Sarah-Jane and Luke know, Sarah-Jane was happy to hear it and Luke wants to meet you."

"But," Jack started but Evie put her hand over his mouth and looked at him intensely.

"No buts," Evie told him and got back to making cake batter. You should celebrate these kinds of things with cake after all.

So Jack just laughed in defeat and helped Evie with her cake, and then with dinner itself, some sort of roasted chicken and two starches and three vegetables. She was really was going overboard, but Jack decided to let her.

Before long there was a buzz of someone downstairs asking to be let up, so Jack went to get the door while Evie finished up the table, which she set for four people. Three spots had small glasses of water, and a wineglass, while the fourth had a plastic cup, made clear to look like glass. Evie had already filled the water glasses and was pouring milk into the plastic cup when Alice, Steven, and Jack walked into the dining room.

"Alice," Evie greeted happily and moved across the room to wrap the older woman in a hug. Alice wrapped her arms briefly around Evie as well before she released and stepped away. Steven took that opportunity to run and hug Evie, the force of which made Evie take a step backwards to steady herself.

"Hey Steven. You've been good for your mother since I last saw you right?" Evie asked leaning down to wrap her arms around the boy. He was already too big for Evie to pick up and carry, and there was a small voice in the back of her mind that was sad that she had missed that stage in the little boy's life. Evie pushed it away, because there was the barest hint of gold to that voice, and she didn't need migraines in front of Alice and Steven, nor did she need to worry Jack like that.

"I'm always good," Steven protested pulling away from Evie and smiling up at her, revealing one of his front teeth to be missing.

"Of course," Evie replied quite seriously walking Steven to his place at the table, "I should have known better than to ask such a silly question."

Once Steven was seated Evie turned to Alice and asked, "How has life been treating you? Since Steven is 'always good'."

"It's been good. I'm being considered for a promotion, Steven's dad has a good job and has been sending money to help take care of Steven on a regular basis," Alice replied calmly as Jack left the room to retrieve dinner.

"I'm glad, I was beginning to worry a little that he hadn't helped at all. I know you were stretched to your limits," Evie replied as Jack returned bearing the chicken in one hand and a bowl of mashed potatoes in the other.

Conversation remained light and happy with Steven telling them all about an incident with another boy in his class. The other boy had been picking on one of the girls, so Steven hit him. Steven had gotten suspended for two days, and the other boy had detention at lunch for a week. Jack playfully scolded his grandson before laughing and turning the conversation onto other topics.

It wasn't until dessert that the status of Jack and Evie's relationship came into discussion.

"So, Evie, when are you going to make an honest man out of my dad. If that's even possible," Alice joked as they all tucked into slices of yellow cake with a puree of berries between the slices. Steven had gotten frosting and puree all around his mouth and some on his fingers as well. He was past the 'terrible twos' where it was nigh on impossible to keep a child clean, but he was still a little boy and they made messes.

"Well," Evie started and looked over to Jack conspiratorially, "soon. Jack proposed."

There was a long moment of deafening silence from Alice, who looked like she was going to have a heart-attack or pass out or something of that sort. Then she started laughing and Steven started laughing at his mother, so Evie and Jack laughed in relief that it had gone well.

"When's the wedding then?" Alice asked happily looking between the two.

"We haven't set a date yet. But it will have to be after Gwen's wedding. She works with us, and if we had three people out of the hub on honeymoon at once I expect we'd come back to find the place in shambles," Evie admitted a little sheepishly, "I can't even decide on a color-scheme and Jack refuses to help me. I bring up the wedding and he just smiles and tells me 'whatever you want'."

"Well, that's Dad," Alice said with a shrug, "But either go with something really sunny, or something that means something to the two of you. Like a dark blue like Dad's coat, or the color of your eyes or something. Something that has a reason."

"I like that though," Evie mused, "The blue idea. Would it look terrible if we did multiple shades of blue, do you think? A navy like the greatcoats, and softer blues like Jack's eyes, and mine as well. And maybe a royal blue like The Doctor's TARDIS."

"No, I think that would be lovely," Alice replied smiling. There was the slightest hint of sadness to her smile, perhaps she was thinking of her wedding to her husband, who had left her and Steven (who was only about two at the time) for a pretty man from London.

"I think so too," Evie replied happily and snatched up Jack's hand so she could twine her fingers through his. He smiled over at her, and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Whatever you want,"

_**XX**_

"Hey Evie?" Martha's voice said over the phone.

"Yeah," Evie replied groggily sitting up a bit and looking over at Jack, who was sleeping peacefully for once.

"We just got a call from UNIT," Martha replied a little warily, "They were thinking they would catch Jack, but obviously he's home with you."

"What does UNIT want this time?" Evie asked groaning as she carefully extricated herself from the bed.

"Some suspicious deaths. They've been tracking them for several weeks now, but the latest was just outside of Cardiff. They want us to look into it," Martha explained sounding almost as exasperated as Evie felt.

"So they're hoisting their problems off on us? Typical," Evie said with a sigh, "I'll wake up Jack and we'll be there in a half hour or so."

_**XX**_

Jack was understandably grumpy as they made their way down to the Hub.

"Evie, Jack," Martha greeted eagerly as she looked up from where she was using Tosh's computer, "Thank God you're here."

"What happened?" Evie asked genuinely concerned now.

"Well, UNIT called again, and they sent over the specs on the bodies for us to look at. Normally I would have passed them to Owen, but I didn't feel like waking him and feeling the brunt of his attitude," Martha explained gesturing to the windows open on Tosh's two screens, "Shot through the eye with a hypodermic needle."

"That…doesn't sound very good," Evie said with a grimace as Ianto came over with a mug of tea and another of coffee.

"No, it's not," Martha said slipping through screens again, "In fact it's pretty much just bad."

"Alright, anything to link them all together?" Evie asked glancing at the screens flickering in front of her.

"No, nothing at all," Martha replied looking confused, "Different ages, genders, races, and religions. Nothing. And their medical records are completely wiped clean. No information at all."

"Alright, I'll see if I can't find their medical records, you get that local body released over here, and I'll see if I can't get Tosh and Owen out of their beds to get to work. Maybe Emma too, she can help me sort through these records," Evie answered calmly before patting Martha's shoulder lightly and walking over to her own desk to get to work.

_**XX**_

Owen was grumbling when he came in, but Ianto arrived with the stiff right around the same time, so they just gave him the body and told him to do a full autopsy with complete bloodwork and left him to his own devices.

In the meantime Evie was tracking down the missing medical records. Which was not going as smoothly as she would have hoped. Around four in the morning Ianto wandered in yawning and taking it casually that half the team was already in, when he was almost always the first in.

Andy came in around five and Eugene came in right on his heels with an eager look on his face. He hadn't really been around to do much work and Evie quickly handed him off to Ianto and Emma to teach him the archives and paperwork. There was too much else going on in the hub to have their lovable mathematician getting underfoot.

Soon after Gwen and Tosh came in they got a call on a weevil and Jack went off with Gwen to catch and subdue it. The result was a rather quite day in the Hub, since it took them hours to catch the damn thing. It was pretty wily as weevils go and kept them on the run around.

Just before they caught the weevil they found another dead body which fit the descriptions for the one they had retrieved from a morgue earlier in the day, and the ones that UNIT had tracked down before that.

Which only made things more worrisome rather than less, because now they could be sure that this was a serial problem, and it was moving into Cardiff.

_**XX**_

"So, it looks like the only link I could find was toxic shock," Martha finally admits hours later, "Nothing to link them in ethnicity, age, sex, occupation…nothing. But looking through the files there's more of them in South Wales than anywhere else."

"What's the toxic shock from? Can you tell?" Evie asked as the two women sat down on the couch. Martha needed a break and Evie figured a break couldn't hurt her either.

"Well, their bloodstreams are pumped full of ammonium hydroxide," Martha admitted, "And as I know you already know their medical records are missing."

"I know, I'm looking into it, but they're all so clean, and someone is trying to completely hide it. And they're doing a decent job even. Their firewalls have as many layers as mine, but I don't know the passcodes, so I'm at a bit of a loss," Evie told the other woman with a shrug. She would break them open eventually, she was just hoping she'd be able to manage before someone else died.

Evie and Martha stood up to get back to work when Martha seemed to suddenly remember something.

"All the victims have a puncture in the eye like a hypodermic needle. Have we ever run into an alien that could do that? Or are we looking at a terrestrial threat this time?" Martha asked and Evie had to think for a moment, but she was coming up blank.

"I haven't heard of something, but I'll get Ianto and Emma looking into the archives, see if there was something before my time," Evie promised before smiling and walking to her desk to get back to work.

_**XX**_

"Owen!" Martha yelled angrily throwing a folder of papers onto her desk, which promptly fell right back off, but Martha was too angry to notice, "I've told you a million times that until Tosh and Evie figure out that thing you're not to use it on cadavers!"

"But I'm sure I've got it this time, and there might be something in this guy's stomach," Owen whined only to be glared down by Martha.

"There was nothing that we found in our autopsy before, and we want this man's body intact as much as possible. You just want to play with alien devices," Martha retorted her arms crossed over her chest.

"But it could be import—" Owen tried again.

"There's nothing there!" Martha yelled throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Martha, Owen," Evie said calmly stepping between the two doctors, "Don't kill each other. Owen hand over the alien device, and Martha go cool down, get Ianto to make you a coffee, or go for a walk on a Plass."

Owen reluctantly gave up the alien device muttering about how he could use it, and he wasn't going to hurt anyone this time, and Martha pulled off her lab coat testily and flung it over her chair before stalking off towards the cog door. Looks like she was planning on a walk outside to calm down.

"Owen, I know you want to figure this thing out, and since you and Martha can't seem to get along for five minutes today you may take it down to the firing range with whatever you need to test it," Evie told him and handed the device back to the shorter man, then added as an afterthought, "Oh, but no cadavers. Find some other way to test it."

As Evie headed back to her desk to try to make headway on the medical records again Ianto came out and announced that there had been another attack, but this one had survived.

Within seconds Evie was pulling on shoes and Jack was tracking down his jacket and Gwen was calling Martha back from the hallway. They were ready to go in less than ten minutes, and in another twenty they were parking outside the hospital.

The victim was a young woman, only around Martha or Evie's age and pretty enough. She had dark hair and rather larger lips than seemed to fit her face, but she wasn't ugly or anything of the sort. Jack calmly introduced them and admitted that Martha needed to do a few tests and Evie needed to ask her a few questions.

"But the doctors and police already said they were done with me," Marie complained.

"We're a bit different from them," Jack admitted as Martha started drawing blood.

"The man who attacked you," Evie started drawing Marie's attention to herself, "Did you recognize him? Or did he have any particular features that might make him easier to find?"

"No, not at all really. He just came at me with a great big bloody needle, didn't he? You know, my dog bit him and then I kicked him in the nuts," Marie explained looking exasperated by the questions.

"That's my favorite way to bring down a guy attacking someone. I once got a guy in the bits in front of one of my colleagues, and Owen, my colleague, is still terrified of me, because I took him down in about five seconds that way," Evie told her, leaving out that it had been a Weevil, and that she had only been curious as to whether it would work on a Weevil.

That got a smile from Marie, "You're going to find him through right? Not gonns let himattack anyone else?"

"Of course. There's nothing else we could do really," Evie replied with a wide smile, and patted Marie's arm lightly before saying her goodbyes and the trio headed off to run tests and track down information.

_**XX**_

It was a couple of hours later as Evie was catching a quick nap on the couch that Martha and Owen managed to pinpoint what had been bothering both doctors from the beginning of the case.

The ammonium hydroxide as a killing weapon was a strange one, unless you were covering something up in the bloodstream of those people. Owen and Martha went back to work and Evie enlisted Tosh to help her dig through system memories to track down any remnants of information that might not have been deleted properly. Andy and Gwen went off to work with the police looking into the crime scenes and tracking down evidence, and Ianto and Emma spent their time running through the archives to figure out if it was aliens working with humans, or just humans on their own power pulling all of this off.

Then Jack caught the news that there had been another murder and sent Gwen and Ianto out to track down the details.

The man's medical records had already been wiped and there was no CCTV or witnesses.

"These attacks aren't random, they're clinical. Professional. More like assassinations," Martha admitted as Martha, Gwen, and Evie took a short break for caffeine and food.

"But Barry Leonard was a student. Who'd assassinate a student?" Gwen asked looking a bit tired. They had all be running 24 hours and it didn't like they were going to get a break anytime soon.

"Student Loans Company?" Martha suggested jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah, I think you've just cracked it," Gwen answered with a smirk, "But why delete medical records? You know, what did all these people have in common?"

"I don't know," Evie admitted, "But Owen's working on Marie's tests right?" At Martha's nod Evie continued, "I've got Tosh still working on digging up their records, but it's going to be at least another day or so to get everything uncovered. Whoever's doing this they want compete secrecy."

Just then Ianto called out over their headsets, "Martha, call from the hospital. Marie's had some sort of seizure."

"I'm heading out now," Martha said over holding her side of the headset open, and waved to Gwen and Evie before heading out the door and off towards the medical bay for her supplies.

"We're going to catch them though right?" Gwen asked after a long moment of silence between the two women.

"Yeah," Evie replied distractedly, and almost to herself she added, "But how many lives won't we be able to save?"

_**XX**_

Shortly after that Gwen and Ianto went out to track down some of the people in Barry's life to figure out what could have happened to him, while Martha and Owen dealt with Marie at the hospital. When they came back they had the news that Evie had been hoping for. A name to look into, and what's connecting all the victims, as well as what was killing them all. It was almost too good to be true.

After the rather depressing debrief about the parasite and the way it resets the body to perfect health and the Pharm they started making plans about who was going to go in and do a little recon. After Jack made a series of innuendos about how Dr. Aaron Copley was a little cute Evie decided that Jack wasn't going to go in. She wasn't dealing with the mess that could make. Besides, she was just a little (only a tiny bit, really) jealous of anyone who catches Jack's eye. Jack in retaliation insisted that Owen be the person to accompany her to the Pharm, because is something went south he would carry a gun, and Martha still refused, like most of The Doctor's companions.

They called up at the Pharm and made an appointment to meet with Dr. Copley about their research, and managed to get one for fairly early the next morning, which was good because otherwise they would have had to pull their mysterious rank and make Dr. Copley see them, which probably would have turned out badly.

Dr. Copley was not particularly appealing to Evie, and she wasn't sure what Jack saw in him. He was perhaps forty, or even fifty years old, almost completely bald, and he looked a stern and angry man. And he was obviously hiding things.

"Sorry you've had a wasted Journey, Mrs. Smith," And at those words alone Evie was ready to kill the man.

"It's Miss, thank you, I'm not married yet," Evie replied trying to stay calm, "But I'm sure you know at least a few of these people, because one of them told us about you."

"Well, _Ms._ Smith, none of these faces mean anything to me. And as the institute director, I would have met them personally, had they been our trial subjects," Dr. Copley continued, and Evie narrowed her eyes at the man.

"Yes, except as I said one of them named the Pharm as a place where she was treated, for HIV, which as I'm sure you and Dr. Harper here are well aware is incurable. Treatable? Yes. Curable? No," Evie replied testily.

"Well, Professor, when I was writing my MD thesis, your published works on immunology were very helpful, so thank you," Owen interrupted before either Evie or the doctor could start yelling.

"I'm glad to be of service," Dr. Copley replied with a strained smile and a sideways glance at Evie, who was still obviously fuming, but letting Owen deal with it.

"Now, if there was a drug that could restore the human body back to its factory settings, as it were, you would know about it," Owen continued and Evie saw exactly where he was going and watched the doctor carefully for any tells.

"You're right, I would. But nothing like that exists," Dr. Copley replied and Evie caught it. A flare of the left nostril and the tiniest twitch of the right eye. He was lying.

"You know," Evie started suddenly calm and collected, which noticeably put Dr. Copley off balance, "I've spoken to an awful lot of people over the years, and all but one of them has had some sort of tell, when they're lying you know? Some people look to the side, others sweat, some twitch a little, or look down. But I think the best liars are the ones who can't notice their tells even if they tried. Their nostrils flare, or their eyes twitch almost imperceptibly."

"I'm already late for my next appointment," Dr. Copley said sounding a little worried.

"Then we'll just look around a little bit before heading off," Evie said with a bright smile.

"Well, obviously our research suites are classified, so we can't grant you access to those, but we'd be delighted to give you the PR tour," He sounded like that would be anything but delightful.

"Well, Dr. Copley, generally we go wherever we like," Evie replied not allowing her smile to budge, but staring straight into the man in front of her.

"Not here, actually. Ask Whitehall. We're fireproof," Copley replied and Evie's eyes narrowed again, and her smile slipped a little.

"Yeah, my fiancé recently had a bad experience with a politician, and I admit I wasn't impressed either. So we don't listen much to Whitehall anymore," Evie replied twisting her ring around her finger, and drawing attention to it. D. Copley's eyes lingered there for a long moment before going back up to her face to reply.

"Let me get someone to guide you back to your vehicle," Dr. Copley said before picking up his phone and calling someone to come and retrieve them, and prevent them from looking around.

Evie watched him closely, and noticed a little sheen of sweat on the top of his head, and she couldn't help but smirk just a little bit. They had made him nervous, which meant that it would be that much easier to send someone else in to take a really good look around the facility.

_**XX**_

"Evie, come take a try at their database?" Tosh requested as soon as Evie walked in through the cog doors. She had called over the headsets to inform Jack what had happened, and it looked as though he had put Tosh on trying to get into their database.

As Evie turned to go see Tosh a distinctly green looking Owen made his way to the medical bay where Evie knew he had a small stash of booze. She wasn't going to apologize for her driving though.

"What's wrong?" Evie asked her looking over the three screens on Tosh's desk and looking through what the smaller woman had been working on. Her coding was all very good, but very direct and straightforward.

"If I push any harder on brute force alone they're going to know I'm here and they're under attack," Tosh explained, "I could get in, maybe, but they would know I was there and they'd start moving files and putting up extra firewalls and the whole nine yards."

"I'll take a look, see if I can be more subtle, but it's possible we're not going to get in there, and we'll have to send someone in to take a look into things," Evie told her before sending the files of coding to her own computer.

But it was no use, even the most subtle approaches were well hidden and protected, she wasn't going to break in from here. She'd have to break into a computer in the facility to get the information they wanted.

As Evie came to that realization Ianto came bounding up from the Archives with news. The Pharm was looking for volunteers.

"Ianto, that's brilliant! They're in the market for volunteers," Tosh said happily with a grin. She had come to the same conclusion Evie had, there was no way to get into their systems from this end, they'd have to break in.

"That's understandable, given their wastage rate," Jack replied grimacing a little at the thought of how many people the Pharm had killed.

"Then one of us goes in undercover," Gwen added in, and Evie was nodding along. That was the only thing that made sense.

"No, we don't know enough about the workings of that place. Too many things could go wrong," Jack vetoed.

"We have to send someone in, it's the only way we're going to get any information," Evie replied calmly, "But it'll have to be Martha. It needs to be someone with medical experience, but they know Owen is a doctor, and that he works with me and Copley's not fond of me."

"No way," Jack said shaking his head and looking at Martha who looked like she agreed completely with Evie.

"Come on Jack, I've been in worse places and you know it," Martha argued calmly, and Evie knew it too for a moment, but there was a flare of gold across her vision and redirected her mind in other places and tried to ignore it. The locket was getting weaker again, and she knew it, and knew it was coming up close the time when she would have to either open it or risk going blind, or dying outright.

"Okay," Jack agreed unenthusiastically.

_**XX**_

Ianto and Martha went off to work out Martha's cover story and Evie went up to Jack's office as Tosh tracked down some camera lenses.

"Jack," Evie said quietly as she opened the door, a little unsure as to whether or not to cross the threshold.

"Evie," Jack looked surprised that she would there instead of helping Martha to get ready, and his face took on a more serious tone when he saw hers.

"I don't think the locket is going to last much longer," Evie admitted straight out coming into the office and shutting the door behind her with a firm snap.

"Why?" Jack asked standing from his desk and coming to meet her, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I had a flash earlier, something that happened in the Year That Never Was I'm sure, but with that flash came the surety that the locket is breaking down, and that it's not going to last as long as The Doctor indicated it might," Evie told him forcing herself to keep calm. But she was scared out of her wits. She was going to have to either become a different person or lose her life entirely, and both prospects scared her shitless.

"Then open it," Jack said after a long moment of silence.

Evie shook her head, she couldn't. Not now. Not when she was planning their wedding and it would change everything, and who knows if Jack would even still want to marry her. He might call off the wedding, and Evie wasn't sure she could deal with that.

"If it's going to kill you, you have to open it," Jack said looking almost panicked at the prospect of her dying.

"I…not yet. Not when everything's so good," Evie told him her throat tightening her her eyes tearing up. She swiped away the tears quickly, she wasn't going to cry. Not this time.

"Evie…" Jack started and stopped himself. He stood for a moment then wrapped Evie in his arms, and she let out a sab she had been choking down, but stopped the rest.

"It's like dying Jack," Evie finally murmured, "I won't be me anymore."

"Yes, you will be. You'll still be Evie, just like The Doctor is still my Doctor even after he regenerated, even after he changed everything about himself, he's still the same person. You won't even be changing everything, just your memories. You're still you," Jack said quietly and placatingly, and Evie reached up through Jack's arms and wiped away tears again. She sniffled once and pulled herself gently from Jack's arms.

"Not now," Evie said with a little nod of the head, "When all this is done. I promise."

_**XX**_

They sent Martha off to do her thing in her own car with camera lenses in and a foolproof alibi, but Evie couldn't watch what was going on, and trusted Jack, Tosh, and Owen to monitor the situation while she tracked down her best friend.

"Ianto?" Evie asked knocking on the open door to his office.

"Come in Evie," Ianto said quickly then looking at her face added, "What's wrong?"

"I promised Jack that when all this is over I'd open the locket," Evie admitted.

"Why? What's changed?" Ianto asked getting to the heart of the situation immediately.

"The locket's breaking down faster than The Doctor thought it would," Evie admitted lowering herself into the only other chair in the room, "If I don't open it pretty soon it could blind me, or kill me, or any number of other things. Jack wanted me to open it right away but…But it feels like I'd be dying."

Ianto didn't respond, but made it clear that he wanted an explanation for that statement. Even the idea of someone close to him dying seemed to worry him greatly.

"I'm not going to be _me_ anymore. I'll still be here but I won't be the one thinking and doing and…and it's like I'm going to die and be replaced by someone who looks just like me. Because _I'm_ not going to be the one to walk down the aisle and see Jack at the end, and _I'm_ never going to find out if Tosh and Owen ever get their acts together and start dating, or if Gwen's wedding goes off without a hitch, or meet her and Rhys's children, or, or any of it. It will be someone else. Someone possibly even older than Jack, or The Doctor. I know I'll always love Jack, I couldn't do elsewise, but will he always love me? Will he love me when I'm not me anymore?" Evie went on and on and as she was talking she both wished that Ianto would stop her and placate her and glad that he didn't because she really needed to get all of this off her chest, and she wasn't going to feel better until she did.

"I've spoken to Martha about how the locket-thing all works," Ianto admitted as Evie wound down, "You're still you. Martha knew The Doctor as a Time Lord, and someone wholly alien before he hid himself away as a human, and he was the same person when he was John Smith as when he was The Doctor. The same personality, with less knowledge. The same skills without the memories. So you will be you still. And Jack knows about all of this, and he knew you would have to open your locket and become a Time Lady before you knew yourself. But when did he propose? After you both knew. When you both knew that you were a Time Lady in disguise, and had only a limited amount of time as a human."

Evie paused a moment to think about Ianto had just said but finally had to concede that although she was still scared out of her mind, she could accept it better. Because Martha knew what she was talking about, and Ianto 'knows everything' and even when Evie can't be positive that Ianto is correct, she can't help but be comforted by the knowledge that Ianto had never been wrong yet.

_**XX**_

"Evie!" Tosh was calling frantically over the headsets as Evie made her way slowly back to the workstations.

"What is it?" Evie asked tensing nervously.

"We've lost our signal on Martha and we're going to wait thirty minutes before taking further actions, but Jack wants us all suited up ready to head out the moment thirty minutes are up," Tosh explained quickly, and Evie quickened her pace till she was running barefoot to her desk. The moment she reached it she was pulling on her shoes, but before she could tie the second one Ianto was calling to say they had caught some Billy Davis who could help them get into the Pharm to clean them out.

She left the boys to deal with Davis though and spent her time instead checking the SUV and her kit, and making sure that Owen had more medical supplies than he needed. Evie was the one who sent Martha in, no matter if Jack tried to take that guilt from her.

Not long after Evie was informed that Owen had managed to kill Davis in the process of attempting to save him using the singularity scalpel to get the Mayfly out of him. And Evie had a brilliant idea.

"Ianto?" Evie asked over the headset.

"Yes Evie?" He replied sounding weary.

"Have you already disposed of Billy Davis's body?" Evie asked smiling to herself as she checked to make sure that her information was correct and this would work.

"No, I was on my way to get him after cleaning up," Ianto replied sounding baffled.

"Well, clean him up a little, but don't get rid of him. We can use him to get into the Pharm," Evie told him grinning because she knew he would be looking clueless.

"And how is that going to work?" Ianto asked and the disbelief painting his voice gave Evie all the vindication she needed.

"We set him in the front seat like he's driving, but one of us with be driving with a remote control rig from the back," Evie explained.

"That's a bit brilliant," Ianto admitted.

"Which SUV should I put him in?" Ianto asked getting onboard quickly.

"The first one will do," Evie replied, "And try not to take forever, we'll want to get him in place before rigor mortis sets in."

"I know, Mother," Ianto said with a mild exasperation.

"Just checking," Evie replied and got back to setting up the program to drive the SUV with.

Before long they were leaving everyone kitted up for every possible situation. Jack, Evie, Ianto, Gwen, Tosh, and Owen all squeezed into the back of the SUV so that when the guard looked in the front window he wouldn't be able to see any of them. Emma had long since been sent home for the night, and as they left Evie told Andy to go home and get some sleep, everyone would be fine.

The plan went off without a hitch and before long Jack was splitting the team in two to both deal with whatever was in 'Zone A' (aliens and research in all likelihood, but the exacts weren't clear to them), and the other half to rescue Martha from whatever danger she was currently in. Evie, Jack, and Owen were the ones to run into the main building to find and extricate Martha.

They found the exam room and all three had their guns out and safeties off as they burst into the room to find Martha gasping and inarticulate tied down to an exam table.

"Hands above your head!" Jack yelled his gun pointing straight at Copley's head. Owen runs past Jack and Evie (who had her gun trained on Copley's manly bits; she wanted him to suffer) to help Martha as immediately as possible.

"What have you done to her?" Jack demanded forcefully only glancing at Martha so as to not give Copley an opening to do something, but the concern on his face was obvious. He felt guilty even though Evie knew full well it was her fault.

"Tell me that's not Reset!" Owen demanded as he checked Martha's vitals as quickly as possible. Before Copley could say anything Evie was already sure that it was Reset, and Evie was torn because she knew that if she was a Time Lady she'd probably know what to do, or at least be capable of doing something, but as things were she was worthless. There were no complex physics equations for her to solve, or obscure literary references for her to explain, or even any manly bits to knee; there was nothing to make her useful here.

"She's survived the larval stage, the only subject to do so. Fascinating," Copley said not at all concerned about the guns focused on him that could so easily and quickly end his life, "Turns out these bugs practice sibling cannibalism. Only the strongest individual is left now. God knows what happens next."

"Put a stop to this!" Owen demanded.

"I can't," Copley replied lifting his hands and shrugging the tiniest bit, "I don't know how."

"Jack," Owen said looking up at Jack as the creature in Martha's stomach moved around looking for more space, "This thing's killing her. I don't know what I can do."

Evie despaired then, because Owen was the most creative doctor she had ever met (barring perhaps The Doctor), and if he had no clues then she didn't either. But then Owen's eyes drifted to the singularity scalpel and Evie wanted to tell him not to, but at the same time if Owen could finally get it right he could save Martha's life, and she would die otherwise. So as Jack told Owen to calm down Evie caught their doctor's eyes and nodded.

Just then Evie could hear Ianto over the headsets.

"Jack, I can give you a report on Zone A. They're holding dozens of creatures. They seem to be using them as test subjects," Ianto explained and he sounded disturbed, it had to be bad when Ianto dealt with dead bodies on a daily basis.

"Understood, Ianto. Tell Tosh to go for total shutdown," Jack ordered and Evie grinned evilly knowing what this meant, Tosh was going to go in and wipe everything. Jack turned his attention back to Copley, "This place is a torture chamber."

"I don't need to debate medical ethics with you," Copley sneered and Evie was ready to rip his throat out, but her eyes wandered back to Owen where he was preparing a syringe for something or other.

"You abused the Mayflies, you turned them into parasites!" Jack argued and Evie was entirely sure what they had been before, and she wasn't entirely sure that the Marflies' nature hadn't already been parasitic, but it made her feel better to blame it all on Copley.

"We didn't understand how the Mayflies reproduced. We tried to limit the damage," Copley admitted and Evie's gun changed aim from his manly bits to his heart.

"What, by murdering people?" Evie finally spoke and Copley glared at her, obviously he was still bitter about their earlier conversation.

"They were going to die anyway. We're on the edge of the greatest discovery in history. It's gotta be worth a few sacrifices!" The worst part was Copley actually seemed convinced by what he was saying, he seriously thought he was one of the good guys, "You must understand that, Ms. Smith, you're involved in alien research."

"Not like this," Evie said her throat closing up. They were involved in alien research, but the whole team knew that Evie wasn't human and the only tests done on her were to check her own health, never to exploit her.

"I'm closing this place down," Jack interjected seeing Evie's expression.

"In your dreams. This is a state of the art, official facility," Copley was sneering so much that anyone who thought him a good guy should have known better by now.

"Oh, I'm not going to do it by sending a memo. We're in control of your IT systems. As we speak, we're crashing your data banks, wiping your records," Jack admitted looking proud of Tosh for breaking in, and Evie for her prior programming that would let them get in and out of a system as quickly as they could.

"That's cyber terrorism!" Copley argued looking scandalized. He thought them wiping their records was bad? With what he was doing?

"And that's just for starters," Jack continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "We're going to trip the systems of your fire, radiation and biohazard safety networks. The power will cut, sprinklers will be activated, and a large part of this facility will be sealed and flooded with inert gases."

"The aliens will die," Copley replied smugly, as though that gave him the upperhand.

"They're already dying," Evie told him shaking her head at his idiocy and cruelty, "This way they'll be put out of their misery."

"For God's sake, we're on the same side!" Copley finally shouted and Evie scoffed. They were anything but.

"No," Jack replied, "Combating hostile aliens is one thing, but this is slavery, exploitation, a war crime!"

"Jack, I need your help!" Owen called and Evie shifted the aim of her gun again towards Copley's head and Jack rushed to Owen's side to help him. Evie had missed it, but at some point Owen had lifted the singularity scalpel and had started calibrating it.

But only a second later Evie realized why Owen had called for help, Martha was convulsing. So Jack gripped her tightly to hold her steady. I took a long moment but Jack finally noticed the scalpel in Owen's hand.

"What the hell are you doing to her?!" Jack asked looking frightened at the device in Owen's hands. As Evie was occupied with watching what Owen and Jack were doing to help Martha Copley shoved into Evie knocking her off balance and into the wall and the man rushed out through the door. Evie paused on the threshold wanting to catch the ass, but instead she grabbed onto Martha's legs to help hold her still. This was more important. Jack might chew her out later, but Martha's life would always be more important.

"This is the only way we'll save Martha. I think I understand how it works," Owen explained and the boys didn't even seem to have noticed that Copley was gone, or that Evie was helping now.

"You'd better be sure because it's never worked before," Jack warned looking worried. He had Martha had been through the Year together, and it must hurt that he couldn't keep her safe for The Doctor, "Owen, are you sure it's safe?"

"Okay, Jack, Evie!" Owen cried out and the couple sprang from Martha to let Owen get a clear shot.

"Owen, tell me you're sure! You could kill her with that thing!" Jack ordered and Evie knew that even if he wasn't this was their best shot.

"We're losing her!" Evie warned and in that moment there was a strange sound from the singularity scalpel and Martha surged upwards on the exam table and cried out. Then she fell back with a thud as the monitor flatlined. And it felt like Evie's heart stopped with Martha's.

"What have you done?" Jack demanded looking sadly at Martha, but before Owen could reply Martha was coughing and the monitors were beeping steadily again.

"Oh, bloody hell, it worked. Thank God for that," And Evie knew he hadn't been sure at all, but she was glad he did it anyways, because otherwise they would have lost her. There was no question about that.

"Let's get her out of here," Jack order and grabbed hold of Martha as she struggled to sit up on her own. Evie grabbed her other side as Owen put on his jacket and gathered up his backpack.

_**XX**_

They made it out of the building easily and Evie was constantly watching for Copley. Outside Gwen was taking care of Copley's partner and Ianto and Tosh were waiting patiently for the last of the team to show. Jack ducked out from under Martha's arm and made his way to the front of the car while giving Tosh the order to finish locking things down.

Then as they thought they were finally in the clear Copley made himself known again.

"Did you really think I was going to let you just walk away?" Copley asks and Evie's not sure if he's talking to her or to Martha, because both had a clear hand in the end of his research, "You've ruined everything I've worked for."

"Don't be an idiot Copley," Evie replies gently pushing Martha out of the way and reaching into her pocket. That was a lot of layers to undo, but she was undoing them.

"Your research is done, but your life doesn't have to be. Put the gun down and you won't get shot," Evie told him her voice calm and soothing. She made no movements for her gun. The locket was more important. She had to get to it. She had made a promise.

"You don't really want to shoot me. Shoot a tree or something. Get rid of your anger. You don't want to kill me," Evie told him tossing the boxes to the ground. She couldn't get a grip on the layers of cloth with them there.

But there was a loud sound and sharp biting pain. He'd shot her. She just. One more layer, and a little flick.

But her hand felt heavy and her fingers didn't want to cooperate.

There was another gunshot and a second later she was looking up into Jack's eyes.

When did she fall to the ground she couldn't remember.

"The locket," Evie gasped out, "My pocket."

Someone was fumbling in her pocket and her eyes were drooping down and she just wanted to sleep. But she promised. When everything was over she would open the locket. She had to open it. She promised.

There was cold metal in her hand and she could hear someone saying something. But the locket was more important. She forced her fingers to move and found the edge of the locket. It took her forever but she finally got the edge of her nail in between the two halves and with a flick it was open.

It hurt.

The golden light was back and it hurt everything hurt so much that she was sure even if she hadn't been dying a scream would have been impossible. Every cell of her body hurt and the light was blinding her and she could remember.

She remembered a little glass box watching Jack die over and over again.

She remembered leading the resistance.

She remembered setting the locket into the chameleon arch.

She remembered The Doctor's blue TARDIS on her doorstep and the frantic warning to leave.

She remembered the lonely years she spent on Gallifrey after the Academy.

She remembered a dark haired girl who watched The Doctor go with longing. A girl who laughed with her and studied with her. A girl who ran away and abandoned her.

She remembered, she remembered, she remembered. She remembered everything about the two hundred years of her life.

And she wished she didn't.

There was a brief moment of respite in which Evie saw Martha hovering over her, and heard Jack's voice from somewhere nearby before she was in pain again.

She was regenerating again. For the second time in her life. And it hurt so badly.

_**XX**_

When Evie woke she was in own bed, but it didn't feel right. The mattress was too hard and the sheets not silky enough, it wasn't as comfortable as it had been. But the bed hadn't changed she had.

She looked out the window and saw it was late evening, she had been out for at least a full day, likely longer. It was harder to regenerate when the death was draining. It wasn't that the gun wound was draining, but more that becoming a Time Lady again and regenerating in less than ten minutes was draining.

Evie climbed from bed and went to the closet to find something to wear.

Nothing was right.

So she dug in her drawers and found a t-shirt she didn't remember she owned and a pair of jeans. The shirt was too tight at the chest and the jeans too loose at the waist. Evie cinched a belt around her waist and left it. She would have to deal with it later. She tried to put on her shoes, but they were at least a full size too small. That would have to wait as well.

Evie left the bedroom and went into the bathroom only to jump a little at her reflection. Regenerating was always disorienting, but going from straight strawberry blond hair to tightly curled dark auburn colored hair which was a mess from bedhead was a shock. But Evie grabbed hold of her brush and forced her hair down into some semblance of behaving. Then she dug through the medicine cabinet looking for one of the few hair ties she owned. She never used to use them, but hair like this needed to be out of her face. But then at the last moment she left strands out in the front and manipulated them with her fingers to make perfect ringlets.

Then she looked more closely at herself. Her face was rounder, and she looked older. She had looked perhaps 26 or 27 before, but now she looked more 33 or 34. It wasn't a huge difference, but she could see it clearly enough. Her once blue eyes had changed to a hazel-green, and Evie despaired that it wouldn't match the wedding theme anymore.

But why did she want blue anyways? Red would be a better accent color. Bright bright red, like a phone box.

That was a good idea. Phone boxes. Like The Doctor's. But his was blue.

Evie shook herself from her thoughts and made her way out of the bathroom again. Then she was on her way to the kitchen to track down food, and on the way Penny stopped her and started barking at her angrily. But Evie crouched down and pet her ears in just the right spot, and Penny seemed to recognize her finally.

Penny trailed at her heels as Evie made her way to the kitchen. She needed something to wake her up this morning. A mug of tea would do nicely. It always did.

So Evie heated the water and picked out a tea bag, she didn't put any sugar in, there was no telling how her taste buds had changed with her regeneration.

But the moment the hot tea hit her tongue she knew that wasn't going to work. The taste of it made her stomach roil and there was no way she could swallow even a mouthful, not to mention a whole mug of it. It certainly wasn't going to wake her up. Well, not in a good way anyways.

"Evie?" Jack's voice came from behind her, and she almost dropped the mug she had been glaring into.

"Jack?" Her voice was different too. But was it lower, or just different? Evie couldn't tell.

"You're alright?" Jack asked and Evie smiled at him. He was always worrying about her so much.

"I'm fine. Opening the locket and regenerating in less than ten minutes took a lot out of me. How long was I out? I'm guessing at least two days. I remember a teacher of mine at the academy changed his species for a short period and just before he came back had an accident and regenerated and he had changed back to being a Time Lord almost a week before he regenerated and he was out for two full days. I imagine I was out for longer than that. I had no time to allow my body to adjust to being different before I forced it to change again in order to save my life," Evie rambled on not even realizes how much she was talking, "Oh, I'm one of those people who never stop talking now aren't I? I'm sorry Jack, I really shouldn't keep talking like this and it's terribly rude of me to—"

Jack kissed her lips lightly, hesitantly, as though he wasn't sure she would want him to.

"You were out for almost a full week. Martha's doing better and Ianto has been spending extra time with Emma. Tosh and Owen went on a date last night and it looks like they're going to work out. Eugene was beside himself when he came into work three days ago to find out that you had been shot and regenerated," Jack explained knowing that Evie, the old Evie at least, would be asking those questions next.

"I'm glad for Tosh and Owen, I knew it was coming eventually, but it'd nice to know they didn't delay things on my behalf," Evie replied forcing herself to reign in her mouth.

"Why the t-shirt?" Jack asked after a long moment of awkward silence in which Evie tried not to let her mouth get away with her and Jack didn't know what to say.

"Everything else was too frilly or girly or business-y," Evie replied with a shrug, "They don't feel right anymore, plus most of them are pretty fitted and my sizes don't match up anymore. I had to tighten the belt two notches smaller than I used to. And my shoes are too small, just period. Not a pair are going to fit me, and I really don't like being barefoot. But I don't own a single pair of slippers and it's really quite distracting."

"We can go get you some clothes and shoes. For now just slip on your flip-flops, they might be too small, but your feet will at least go in them so we can go to the store to buy you some," Jack suggested gently taking the rapidly cooling mug from Evie's hands.

"Yeah," Evie replied looking down and away from Jack. He was too good to her.

_**XX**_

The shopping trip was short and awkward. They bought exactly one pair of trainers and then made their way into a clothing store where she bought a pile of identical t-shirts in different colors (none of them had patters or logos of any kind), three pairs of jeans in different shades of blue, and a package of underwear guessing the size from the size she had figured out for the jeans.

Evie changed in the bathroom of the store after they paid and they went in silence to the hub. Jack wanted Owen and Martha to take a look at her, and Evie wanted to see the whole team and reassure them that she was fine.

Owen bowed out of Evie's exam saying "The girls need a little time together, and Martha's going to have to look at stuff Jack will kill me for looking at."

So Evie sat silently on the cold exam table as Martha took her blood pressure.

"Is it very different?" Martha asked after a long moment.

"What?" Evie asked unsure exactly what Martha was asking. Oh, she had a good general idea, but she didn't want to answer not knowing exactly what Martha was hoping to hear.

"Just, everything now," Martha said. It seems she didn't know exactly what she was asking either.

"Well, I'm not human anymore, so I'll need to readjust to that, but it shouldn't take me long. Seven years isn't much compared to 189 as a Time Lady," Evie replied smiling a bit, "I don't like tea anymore, and I'm afraid to even think what might happen if I tried to wear heels no matter how much I loved them before."

"So you're 196 years old?" Martha asked a little surprised.

"Well, yes. I'm a bit young for a Time Lady still. About…oh my mid-twenties in comparison to the average lifespan of a Time Lord to the average lifespan of a human. Jack's younger than me if you'd believe it. He's only 177 years old," Evie admitted, "He doesn't keep track anymore, but I did the math one day."

"Do you have a TARDIS like The Doctor?" Martha asked as she finally gave up trying to take Evie's blood pressure. Evie didn't blame her, she doubted that The cuff would be able to manage. One thing about having two hearts in that your blood pressure was exponentially larger than someone with only one.

"I did," Evie admitted as Martha pressed her stethoscope on Evie's right heart, "I'm not sure what happened to it. I think my chameleon arch was broken to begin with. Everything from putting it on my head any waking in the university is gone. I don't know where my TARDIS is parked, but I assume it's in London. It's why I risked the journey from Cardiff to London during the Year."

"You remember the year now?" Martha asked shocked forgetting to count the beats.

"Well, yes. The first part of it is terrible blurry but from the time I opened the locket onwards it's clear as crystal," Evie told her, "Once I opened the locket and became a Time Lady again I had a different perception of time. It helps that I was inspired when I looked into the Untempered Schism…You know, I knew I would fall in love someday from the day I turned eight years old. I never wed or loomed a child because I knew that if I waited I would have the one person perfect for me. I didn't know he would be human, or that I would be when we met, or even that he would be an impossible point in the universe, but I did know I would meet him, and there was no one I could ever love as much as I love him."

Evie's eyes went distant as she remembered begging the two people closest to her not to ruin everything.

"_Kaiya!" Evie yelled her red hair whipping in the wind outside, "You can't do this! I've waited too long!"_

"_What are you even waiting for? We could go now! We can see the universe, we can leave Gallifrey and all these stupid rules!" Kaiya argued her tightly curled chair creating a dark halo around her face._

"_But if I leave now, there's nothing to keep The Doctor here. He'll leave and the whole universe will shift. And when that happens I'll never meet Him," Evie told her tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. It didn't matter that she worked for the Council or that she should be poised and in control of herself, she couldn't risk losing that tiny hope of happiness in the future._

"_You're always talking about Him! This one guy in all of time and space, that has to be someone else. The universe is HUGE, and Time is even bigger, you can find someone else," Kaiya argued angrily._

"_Not like Him. Not like Him," Evie replied and turned her eyes on The Doctor who hadn't said a word in all of this, "Don't do this."_

"_I won't," The Doctor replied and stepped away from Kaiya and Evie gave him a watery smile and looked hopefully at Kaiya, but she climbed into her TARDIS and shut the door tightly behind herself._

_Evie could see in the fragments of her timeline here that she wouldn't be back for many years. _

_**XX**_

"Ianto?" Evie asked knocking on his open door the same way she had a week ago.

"Evie?" Ianto asked a tiny bit unsure.

"Yeah, it's me," Evie told him with a smile, "So I heard you and Emma are spending a lot of time together again. Something you want to tell me?"

"No," Ianto answered defensively, "There's, well there's nothing to talk about right now."

"Think she's too young then?" Evie asked knowing how this had turned out during the Year.

"No, well I suppose I should shouldn't I?" Ianto said looking sick at himself for not seeing that. She was only eighteen.

"No, you shouldn't," Evie told him gently sitting down in the chair the same way she had a week ago, "I'll tell you now during the Year That Never Was you two ended up in a relationship together, and if you two end up in a relationship again, it will turn out well. Your timelines weave together rather delicately. I'm not sure if you two will stay together forever or anything of that sort, but I doubt it will be a bad breakup if it ends."

"But can I really do that? Date an eighteen-year-old?" Ianto asked looking down at his desk, he wasn't looking at anything in particular, just down so he didn't have to look at his best friend.

"You can certainly give it a try. You're only 24 yourself, not an old man yet," Evie replied with a grin, "Just think of this this way, Jack is 177 and I'm 196. Our age gap is much bigger, and Emma is just as interested in you as you are in her."

Ianto stared at Evie for a long moment before he started laughing. It took him a long moment to get himself back under control, and Evie just waited him out calmly.

"I needed that, we've all been pretty tightly wound since Copley shot you," Ianto admitted with a little grimace, "Mostly because Jack's been so nervous and worried and angry that he snapped at everyone, and we were all walking on eggshells."

"I'm sorry," Evie said suddenly feeling wrong in her skin. For a long moment she had felt right, like she fit in here the same way she had before. She was just speaking with her best friend as though nothing had happened and nothing had changed, but all the sudden her injury and subsequent regeneration were brought up, and it was her fault everyone was off kilter.

"It's not your fault," Ianto told her sincerely, he wasn't just trying to make her feel better, it was legitimately not her fault, "You tried to talk him down, and you tried to open the locket in time, there was nothing else anyone could have asked of you."

Evie nodded, but she didn't think he was right. There must have been something more she could have done. She could have gone for gun instead of her locket, she probably could have drawn faster than he could shoot. And that guilt would haunt her for a long time.

_**XX**_

_**So…I don't have any excuse for how long this took. Well, actually I have a lot of excuses but none of them are very good ones. First I had some very serious issues with my roommates and I had to sleep on my best friend's floor for two weeks, then I moved dorm rooms, then I had to deal with classes and the fact that the chapter didn't want to be written. Then was finals and I was moving my dad into our new house, then I was moving myself in, and then I was helping my mom move from Georgia to Florida, and then we were unpacking boxes and then we went on an Alaskan cruise. Then I discovered Supernatural, and school started up again, and I've been sick for a month.**_

_**So lots of reasons, but I still should have gotten this done before the school year started. So I'm very sorry for that.**_

_**On another note this is what I've been working towards since I first started this story. This is the way Evie was always meant to open the locket, and this is the way she was always meant to regenerate. At first I was going to write he protecting Owen, but I rewatched the episode and read through the transcripts and realized that Owen was protecting Martha, so I set Evie in to protect Martha instead, but implied at the same time that perhaps Cropley was actually trying to kill her.**_

_**But anywho, thanks to everyone who had followed, favorited, or reviewed since February when I last updated, and thank you to everyone else who has stuck by me from the beginning. And a special thanks to BiJane and KaiyaJones who have helped me through the stuff going on in my life and encouraged me to continue this story despite it all.**_

_**On the note with KaiyaJones the character of Kaiya, who we briefly glimpse, is actually hers, and she was totally copying me when she made her up. But she is writing a fanfiction called Changes In Time (it's a Stargate SG-1 and Doctor Who crossover) which focuses around Kaiya, so if that sort of thing that interests you go ahead and take a look at her story.**_


	21. Poison, Old Enemies, and Heartache

_**Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures do NOT belong to me. I really wish they did so I could save so many awesome characters *cough*Ianto*cough*, but alas they do not. **_

_**Please note that this story is AU. Torchwood starts shortly after Reset but is before A Day in Death, Doctor Who should be somewhere around The Poison Sky and The Sontaran Stratagem, and The Sarah Jane Adventures is somewhere around the beginning of Series 3.**_

_**XX**_

"Gwen?" Evie called out as the cog door opened. Gwen had taken the morning off to go dress shopping and Evie needed her back now so that the older woman could actually get some of her paperwork filed away and sent off the Emma to file.

But there wasn't a response,

"Seriously Gwen did it go that badly that you're not even going to speak to me?" Evie asked standing up and making her way over so she could see the cog door and Gwen's desk, but the woman wasn't there.

"Well, now I might as well be in a horror movie," Evie said with a sigh. She was the only one in the hub (unless you count Emma but she was in the tourist office up on the surface). Jack had taken the boys to hunt retrieve something from a recent Rift surge, and Martha and Tosh both had the day off today.

There was a sudden jab to Evie's back and her knees folded under her and she couldn't quite see straight. What was that? It felt like a needle jabbing a tiny dose of aspirin into her system, but who would know to give her aspirin? There weren't a lot of people with enough knowledge of Time Lord physiology to know that it was poisonous to them.

But Evie didn't have long to ponder because within a few seconds she was unconscious and she could just hope that it hadn't been a fatal dosage. She really hated regenerating and she hadn't even gotten used to this regeneration yet.

_**XX**_

When Evie woke all her muscles felt like jelly and her head was pounding like something was trying to get out of it. Her hearts were working double time trying to get the aspirin out of her system, and her mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton while it tasted like something had cheerfully crawled in and died in there.

She opened her eyes carefully and the bright light blinded her, but it was enough to know that she was now in the medical bay, which meant that she had been out long enough for the boys to get back, panic, and take her to the medical bay.

Evie opened her eyes again and managed to keep them open long enough to see Martha hovering over her. Well, then it had also been long enough for the boys to call Martha in to tend to her. Good lord they must all be having fits.

"Oh, good you're awake," Martha was saying frantically as she held a phone to her ear, "I had to call The Doctor because I couldn't figure out what's wrong with you. He's coming."

And just as Martha finished speaking they could hear the sound of The Doctor's terrible driving and the TARDIS parking on the other side of the hub.

"Jack!" He greeted Evie's fiancé happily in the background and then there was talking too quiet for Evie to make out and several sets of footsteps making their way down to the medical bay where Evie was feeling too weak to get up.

"Mara," The Doctor greeted Evie warmly as he entered the medical bay. He was the messy-haired, pinstriped suit version of himself (Evie wasn't sure which regeneration that one was, he had been on eight the last time she saw him before the end of Gallifrey, so this could be Nine or higher than that).

"Theta," Evie managed to croak, "It's aspirin."

"A detox then?" The Doctor asked looking far more concerned then before at those words.

"Yes please," Evie replied with a smile, "A shock's going to be difficult though, I've seen too much in the last couple years as a human."

"I'll come up with something," The Doctor replied with a laugh. Then he was leaving and Jack had stepped into Evie's line of sight.

"Did I worry you Jack?" Evie asked concerned reaching out a hand for him.

"Scared out of my mind," Jack admitted grabbing hold of Evie's hand and gripping it a little tighter than was necessary.

"I'm sorry," Evie replied gently, "Someone got past Emma into the hub and injected me with a tiny bit of aspirin, and I was out like a light. Truthfully I was a little worried I had regenerated, but I feel too terrible for that to have happened."

"You're still curly-haired and green-eyed," Jack affirmed and Evie gave his hand a little squeeze as The Doctor made his way back into the medical bay followed closely by a bad-tempered looking redhead

"What's this place? Why didn't you tell me where we were going? I thought we were going to get some sun and have some relaxation," She was complaining as she stuck closely to The Doctor's heels.

"This is Torchwood, Donna," The Doctor told her and came pulled a little rolling table over and put his equipment on it. There were a number of different ways that you could cause a detox in a Time Lord, but this was the most efficient and Evie was glad that The Doctor had the two machines in his TARDIS, because it would have been much harder to explain to Martha and Jack what they needed.

"Well what's Torchwood then?" She demanded putting her hands on herhips before she suddenly seemed to notice Evie, Jack, and Martha.

"Hello," Evie greeted with a weak smile, "Sorry I delayed your trip then."

"Who are you?" Donna asked looking confusedly from Evie to The Doctor, "Do you have a wife then?"

"No!" The Doctor, Evie, and Jack all cried out in unison. Then they all had a little laugh.

"No, The Doctor and I have known each other since I was eight, but Jack here is my fiancé," Evie told her with a slightly stronger smile. Just then The Doctor hooked up the first machine around Evie's index finger and she felt it start to work, and her breathing hitched.

"Doctor?" Donna asked looking alarmed and Evie realized what Donna was thinking and let out a sharp, breathy laugh.

"No," Evie told her shaking her head a little, "We went to school together. I'm the last surviving Time Lady, he's the last Time Lord."

"Oh," Donna deflated a bit as The Doctor unhooked the first machine and hooked on the second machine. Evie's breath was blown out of her lungs and she had to work to get herself breathing again properly.

"How old is he then? He says he's older than dirt, but I don't believe it," Donna asked trying to keep things from getting tense.

"I…" Evie tried as her breath started to return, but she could quite get out the words when all the sudden someone was lifting her and she breathed in deeply and expelled the toxins in her blood stream through a noxious looking gas.

"You ass," Evie said turning to glare at The Doctor.

"And you said I couldn't shock you enough for a detox," The Doctor said smugly putting Evie back down on the bed and unhooking her from the machine.

"Yes, well I expected something a little more traditionally shocking," Evie told him sitting up properly and straightening her shirt.

"But, anyways," Evie started as she levered herself up from the medical bed, "I don't have a clue how old he is. He was claiming somewhere over a thousand the last time I saw him."

"How old are you then?" Donna asked looking shocked.

"196," Evie replied with a smug grin, "I didn't go time traveling around in my youth like Theta here."

"Theta?" Martha was the one to ask this time, "You called The Doctor that before. What is it?"

"He went by Theta Sigma when we were in school, before he became The Doctor," Evie replied with a smug smile.

"Mara," The Doctor groaned sounding annoyed, "Can you not hand out my life story to people?"

"And why wouldn't I then?" Evie asked with a grin feeling much better now, and hyper-energized from the detox.

"Because you have some small sympathy for the number of years I thought I was the last of our species?" The Doctor asked digging for a reason.

"That's not my fault," Evie told him with a grin, "You could have come and found me, you told me to leave after all, and you must have thought I might have actually escaped."

The Doctor didn't reply instead he pouted just a tiny bit and Evie grinned at him. He seemed much younger now than when Evie had met him when she was still human. He was a bit like in their Academy days before The Master had proven himself a terrible person and they had all been friends (of a sort anyways).

"He's still a child sometimes for all that he's so much older than me," Evie said fondly patting his head a little awkwardly, due to how much taller than her he was now.

"Evie, I need to check your vitals and make sure you're fine," Martha cut in pulling Evie back to the medical bay, but before anything could happen Gwen was calling out for Jack.

"Ten pounds it's a Weevil gone on rampage," Evie said with a grin to Martha as Jack headed up the stairs to the desk area.

"I'll say twenty that Gwen's asking for more time off to go dress shopping," Martha replied with a smile.

"Nah, she would have talked to me about dress shopping, because we're going together on Saturday," Evie replied.

"Dress shopping?" Donna asked curiously.

"Yeah, Gwen and her long-time boyfriend Rhys are getting married soon, and she still hasn't found the 'right' dress, and then Jack and I are getting married sometime in the new year. We haven't decided on a date just yet, mostly because we were waiting for Gwen to choose her date, since they've been engaged longer, and we can't have all three of us out at one time for honeymoons," Evie explained calmly.

"Evie!" Jack was back already and looking visibly worried, "I need you up here now."

Evie looked to their guests briefly before nudging past Martha and making her way up to where Jack stood leaning on the railing. This wasn't a Weevil and it certainly wasn't Gwen wanting time off. Something serious had just happened.

"What's happened?" Evie asked quietly as she reached her fiancé.

"There are things missing from the archives, dangerous things," Jack told her in an equally quiet voice, "And I just checked the vault in my office, completely empty. Someone stole everything in there, and those are the most dangerous artifacts we've come across since I took over."

"What happened to them?" Evie asked anxiously.

"I'm thinking whoever knew how much aspirin to give you without killing you also knew what to steal and where to find it," Jack replied solemnly.

"CCTV?"

"Nothing."

"At all? I'm going to have to go through the files then. Were they just normal scenes or were they deleted?"

"None of them were normal, but there's no one on the screen. They're invisible."

_**XX**_

"Theta?" Evie asked several hours later as she sat staring at the CCTV footage for the tenth time since Jack had informed her of the results, "What's invisible and would want to destroy the earth?"

"A lot of things," The Doctor admitted with an apologetic shrug.

"Figures," Evie said finally putting her head down on her desk, "I should know what I'm doing. I'm a fully trained Time Lady with almost 200 years of experience and I'm completely lost, and I don't know what to do with this case, because whoever this was they _knew_. They knew that aspirin would incapacitate me, they knew that I would be the only one in the hub, and they knew what to take."

"I don't think being a Time Lady is going to help you on this one. Maybe you just need to be Evie Smith Torchwood Second-in-Command," The Doctor told her gently and Evie smiled at him sadly. She sort of wished she was just Evie Smith again, things had been simpler then.

"Evie Smith wouldn't know what to do either though," Evie told him with a sad smile, "In fact I think Evie Smith would be even more in the dark than I am."

"Mara," The Doctor started sadly, "But you're not Mara anymore are you? You're not the little girl who clung to my heels and denied herself everything for the safety of the universe are you?" The Doctor gently pushed a single curl behind Evie's ear and the tenderness of that one action made Evie's breath knot in her throat and she was half a second from sobbing on his shoulder.

"I want to be her," Evie admitted her voice cracking just a little, "She was so much stronger than me."

The Doctor wrapped Evie in his arms and held her as she let her feelings of inadequacy go and sobbed on his shoulder.

"You, Evie, are stronger than you ever give yourself credit for," The Doctor said quietly and Evie more felt the vibrations in The Doctor's chest than she heard the words.

After several long moments Evie pulled herself from The Doctor's grasp and sat up rubbing the tears from her eyes with a rueful smile.

"You always know the right thing to say," Evie told him before turning to her computer again and opening up a digital record of which records were where in the archive (Ianto had been working on it since they hired Emma to file things). Then she started her search for invisible beings (or being which could turn invisible), and started the long and arduous task of figuring out what had stolen everything.

After a minute Evie heard The Doctor get up and leave and refused to watch him go. She had missed him although she would never have been able to admit that to herself without him being there. He had been such a large part of her time in school, and after that as well.

_**XX**_

"_Theta!" Evie called sharply after the taller and older man. _

"_Mara!" He replied turning to look at her and smiling brightly. The smile was only half real, but she wasn't going to begrudge him his sadness when he had no desire to stay in one place and it hurt him to have to do so._

"_Alone today?" Evie asked catching up with him._

"_Yes, Koschei is redoing his Ethics of Time Travel class again," Theta replied with a rueful shake of the head._

"_What is this? His tenth time taking that class?" Evie asked with a small snort._

"_I think it's twelfth actually," Theta admitted calmly._

"_Really?" Evie asked grinning up at her companion._

"_Yes, I believe he failed four times before you came to the Academy," Theta replied shaking his head at his best friend's antics._

"_What does he do? Purposefully answer every question incorrectly?" _

"_No, I think he merely answers them how he feels things should be, and not how the Time Lord Council wishes Time Lords to behave," Theta told her._

"_Silly man that he is," Evie said sounding exasperated. Koschei was the most annoyingly pigheaded person Evie had ever had the misfortune to meet, but she dealt with him because he was Theta's best friend._

"_Have you decided on a new name for yourself once you graduate? Since your name has been stricken from the book?" Evie asked him as they paused to sit down for a short while._

"_Not yet, but I have a couple of things I've been considering," Theta admitted, "I'm more worried what Koschei is going to choose. Have you thought of a title for yourself?"_

"_Not yet, but I have several more years than you before I need to worry about it, and even so I still have my name in the Lungbarrow book," Evie replied, "But I think I'd like something regal, or majestic." _

"_The Queen?" Theta asked with a joking grin._

"_No!" Evie replied shoving his shoulder lightly, "The Duchess, or The Baroness or something like that you silly boy."_

"_The Lady?" Theta tried more seriously and Evie thought and actually considered it. It was a little egotistical (considering the number of Time Ladies on Gallifrey, to call herself "The" Lady like she was the only one), but it was short and had a nice ring to it._

"_I think I like that actually," Evie told him and Theta grinned. This time there was no hint of sadness in the grin and Evie cheered herself for giving that to Theta._

_**XX**_

"So, just what's the relationship between you and The Doctor?" Donna asked as Evie escorted her out of the hub to find some food for the team and allow Evie a chance away from her computer screen.

"What do you mean?" Evie asked looking over at the redhead curiously.

"I mean, you and that big dumbo are too close to just be friends from forever ago," Donna replied looking just a little impatient with her.

"Ah, well…" Evie trailed off wondering how to explain them, "Well has he told you anything about his past, or even about the last year or so?"

"Not a lot, a little though," Donna replied, "He said your planet was gone, and that he had been traveling with a girl called Martha before, I'm guessing that's your Dr. Jones down there. That's about it though."

"Well, Our species…we um, well we can't have children," Evie started awkwardly, it wasn't easy to talk about, "Not naturally the way humans do it. So we have these great looms where we weave together strands of DNA from two different Time Lords."

"What's that have to do with your relationship? You two don't have a kid do you?" Donna asked looking horrified at the last thought, and it made Evie laugh.

"No! No," Evie told her with a smile, "But The Doctor was born, naturally, the same way humans are. In fact he is half human, his mother was a human. But then his father fell into disfavor and had all kinds of problems with the Time Lord Council, they're our ruling body. So it was around sixteen years after that before he was allowed to redeem himself, and he did so by looming a fully Time Lord child. That was me."

"So, he's your brother?" Donna asked looking shocked.

"Yes, but I didn't meet him until I was already eight years old, but I followed him around like a little puppy dog because I wanted someone I could depend on. So we became close while we were in school, and when we were older I often took care of his children and grandchildren," Evie told her reminiscing in her memories of days long gone.

The two women were silent for a long time before Evie finally broke the silence by asking Donna what she would like for lunch and listed off the offering nearby. And just like that the awkwardness of what they had been talking about before faded away.

_**XX**_

"Veronite!" Evie finally cried in triumph hours later.

"What?" Jack asked looking confused, "I've never heard of them before."

"You wouldn't have. They're time travelers like the Time Lords and the Daleks," Evie told him quietly, "They sided with the Daleks in The Last Great Time War."

"I thought they were all wiped out," The Doctor admitted a bit sheepishly, "But that would explain why it knew what to do to Mara here."

"I never saw the end of the war," Evie admitted looking to her older brother, "What happened to them?"

"I thought they were time locked along with the Daleks and the Time Lords. But then you and the Master both hid from the time lock and a number of Daleks managed to escape as well. It seems likely that at least one Veronite would have escaped as well," The Doctor admitted resting his hand on Evie's shoulder.

"Who are these Vetronite people then?" Donna asked loudly mispronouncing the name of the race which was now threatening them.

"The Veronites were a race which could become invisible, and they agreed with the Daleks that they were superior to the rest of the races in the universe. They allowed for emotions unlike the Daleks however, and I think if they had won the war the two races would have fought in a war of their own at the end, to see which race was superior," Evie explained calmly, "Like I said they could time travel like the Time Lords but I suspect this one's time traveling machine has broken, so it has decided to simply wipe out the earth since it can't rejoin its species."

"Which means we're hunting down an invisible creature?" Martha asked with a sigh. Things were always more complicated when The Doctor was involved.

"Yes, but a standard TARDIS has a mechanism built in which allow someone to find a Veronite, so we just have to boot…up…Doctor what is that look on your face?" Evie asked angrily.

"I thought the Veronites were gone, so when it broke I never bothered to fix it, and who knows how long that's going to take," The Doctor admitted and Evie stormed past him muttering all the while to take a look at the stupid mechanism.

"Evie!" The Doctor called after her running to catch up with her, "You don't have a key."

"Open the door Theta," Evie told him standing next to the door with her arms crossed over her chest threateningly. The Doctor hurried to comply and Evie stepped inside. She had to pause for a moment after stepping in.

"You changed the theme," Evie commented before making her way to the console, "Where's the mechanism then?"

"Here," The Doctor said poking at what looked to be a golf ball hung on a metal stick.

"Are you kidding me?" Evie asked looking at the older Time Lord exasperatedly, "What did you even do to this poor girl? Give me your sonic screwdriver and go find the rest of your forgotten tools so I can get to work."

The Doctor scurried off and Evie smiled to herself as she started working. It wasn't as badly broken as she made it seem to her brother, but now that he was around again she couldn't help but feel like a child again, as she hadn't since before The Doctor ever left Gallifrey.

It only took Evie about twenty minutes to fix the mechanism, and she just sat grinning walking through the TARDIS nostalgically. It had been over five years since she had last stepped foot in a TARDIS and The Doctor's had always been a bit of a museum piece, and thus the type that young Time Lords learned how to drive one.

"Evie? You're done then?" The Doctor asked coming back to find her caressing the central console.

"Yeah," Evie replied turning from the console sadly, "It only took me twenty minutes."

"Jack's pacing around waiting for you," The Doctor admitted as he took his sonic screwdriver back from Evie.

"He worries," Evie told him with a fond smile.

"He loves you," The Doctor replied quietly, "I knew that before I ever knew that you had survived the end of Gallifrey."

"He admitted it to you?" Evie asked confused, Jack wasn't a demonstrative type.

"No, but when he spoke about you…I know how that feels," The Doctor told her and Evie stopped completely.

"Who?"

"Her name was Rose," he replied with a fond look on his face, "She travelled with me around the same time Jack did, but she stayed with me even after…"

"After you left Jack in the future?" Evie asked raising an eyebrow, but she started walking again. Her brother had fallen in love and that alone was endearing to Evie.

"Yes, well," The Doctor said looking a little embarrassed.

"You know he held a grudge over that right?" Evie asked with a joking smile. If Rose wasn't with The Doctor anymore something must have happened, and Evie wasn't going to bring up memories that had to hurt. After all when she and Jack had broken up for that brief period it had hurt terribly, and she wasn't going to bring that same kind of pain back to her brother.

"We'll call them in here and track down the Veronite," The Doctor said not replying to Evie's comment, she didn't really blame him for that. It was a joke anyways, and he knows her well enough to know when he didn't really need to respond.

"Jack!" Evie called as The Doctor opened the door of his TARDIS. After a moment Jack appeared from around the corner looking harried.

"You're done then?" Jack asked pulling himself together.

"Yes, we just need to run it and then we'll be off to catch him," Evie told him calmly.

Evie strode back into the TARDIS and as such completely missed the betrayed look on Jack's face, but The Doctor say it and gave the immortal man a pitying look. It wasn't easy loving someone from a different world than yourself.

_**XX**_

They tracked down the Veronite quickly and they all piled into an SUV. The Doctor, Donna, and Martha were all unarmed, but the rest of the team were armed to the teeth, including Evie who was carrying a series of tranquillizer guns which she had filled with doses of arsenic, which was surprisingly just as lethal to Veronites as to humans.

Jack had been startled when Evie started loading up the cartridges.

"_Evie? Is that arsenic?" Jack asked completely astounded._

"_Yes," Evie replied nonchalantly, "Veronites are just as easily killed as humans, it's just a matter of finding them."_

"_What happened to not killing people?" Jack asked looking deeply distressed._

"_I don't have to worry about losing myself anymore," Evie replied with a shrug, "I'm in full ownership of my actions and thoughts at all times. If it means keeping Earth safe I'll kill whoever I have to."_

Jack hadn't said anything in response but he looked so sad that Evie nearly ran after him to apologize, but she didn't have time for that. This Veronite would do far more damage if she didn't do anything, but Evie couldn't help but worry that this adventure to save the world might be the end of her relationship with Jack.

_**XX**_

The Veronite was hiding out just outside of city limits. It was male (or the closest equivalent possible for their species), and he was a rather strong one. The mechanism only barely detected him, his shielding, which made him invisible, also made him harder to detect. It took them almost an hour prowling around with the portable mechanism trying to be stealthy. But really how stealthy can you be when you have Donna Noble, The Doctor, and Jack Harkness in the same group?

But they found him and before anyone to could do anything at all Evie had let out a shot which hit the Veronite straight on. He was dead in less than five minutes, and his shielding dropped as he died leaving his body visible for Torchwood Three.

Veronites were rather unattractive creatures. They had a grayish blue skin and were bulkier and taller than any human; mostly bipedal, but it used its arms to steady itself when walking frequently, especially when moving quickly, or running. It's face contained only one functional eye, the other one was vestigial, left over from several millennia in the past when the Veronites had possessed two eyes and used then in the same way that humanity or the Time Lords had. Now they had more in common sensory-wise with the Daleks than either of the bipedal species.

"That's the Vetronite or whatever?" Donna asked looking shocked over Evie's quick willingness to deal a killing blow.

"That's a Veronite," Evie replied tucking the gun back into her holster on her upper leg.

"The last of its kind," The Doctor continued softly and sadly. Evie looked over at him curiously before understanding reached her. He must have spent some time thinking himself the last of their species before he ran into Evie at that party.

Everyone was silent for a long moment before The Doctor turned on his way back to the SUV. No one said a word on the way back to the SUV, and no one said a word on the drive back to the hub. It was after they finally parked in the garage under the plass that anyone said anything, and it was Jack who finally spoke.

"Evie, can we talk?"

And with those words Evie's heart broke, but she refused to show it. She might feel like Jack was pulling her hearts from her chest but she wasn't going to let anyone but Jack know it. But somehow her brother knew it anyways, and he rested his hand heavily on Evie's shoulder for a long moment before he turned and lead Donna away. The Torchwood team followed behind not wanting to get in the middle of what they expected to become one of their famous yelling fits.

When everyone was gone Evie met her fiance's eyes.

"What did you want to talk about?" Evie asked crossing her arms across her chest. She was trying to look defiant, but instead she looked incredibly vulnerable.

"Why did you just shoot it? No sympathy, no words, nothing," Jack asked shaking his head a little, "The Doctor never would have."

"I'm not my brother," Evie told him disbelievingly, "Veronites are nearly as bad as Daleks, you can't parley with them, and you can't allow them a moment's mercy or they will act on it and you will be dead."

"But you just shot it," Jack continued trying to reason it all out.

"Of course I did," Evie told him pushing her hair from her face, "If I hadn't shot it right off it might have been able to use one of the many particularly dangerous artifacts that it stole from us in order to kill one or all of us. Or destroy the earth."

Jack didn't answer but Evie could sense his displeasure. Jack loved the old Evie, the Evie who used a stun gun and refused to use any kind of lethal weapon, the Evie who thought of money and potential benefits before she thought of the world. The Evie who had been human.

It was over.

Evie knew it was over and she was still reluctant to let it go.

_**XX**_

"Theta," Evie called quietly stepping into the TARDIS. Donna and Martha were having a 'we-travelled-with-The-Doctor-what-life-threatening-situations-did-he-get-you-into?' talk and The Doctor himself had retreated to the TARDIS to wait for his companion to either return or tell him that she was not going to travel with him anymore.

"Evie?" The Doctor replied looking surprised, "I thought you and Jack were going to have a bit of alone time together."

"I think the two of us have seen the end of our alone time together," Evie replied with a terrible self-deprecating smile on her face.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked instantly becoming concerned and stepping closer to his younger sister.

"He loved human Evie," She replied looking to her brother with sad eyes, "He loved Evie Smith the girl with no past. But he doesn't feel the same way for Evie the Time Lady."

"He loves you,"

"No, he used to love me,"

The Doctor seemed to understand he wouldn't be budging his sister on this point.

Before either could say anything Martha and Donna came into the TARDIS. Donna looked perfectly at home and Martha looked sadly nostalgic. Evie smiled at them, it was always nice to see people who could understand them as alien and still accept them. It seemed even nicer now that Evie was sure her time with Torchwood was over.

"Doctor, take me on a trip for old times sake?" Evie asked looking around The Doctor's old TARDIS remembering her classes when she was still in Academy.

"Sure," The Doctor said brightening up a little bit.

"Let me off first," Martha added in quickly, "If Evie's gone someone will need to explain to Jack where she's gone."

"He won't care," Evie told her with a sad smile.

"Of course he will!" Martha cried out indignantly, "The man is so crazy about you that when we literally went to the end of the universe he nearly cried about The Master stealing the TARDIS because he couldn't get back to you and he promised that he wouldn't leave you."

"He promised he wouldn't leave Evie Smith, he doesn't seem to care as much for The Lady, the younger sister of The Doctor," Evie told her trying to break the news to Martha gently.

"He wouldn't—" Martha started when all the sudden the TARDIS started off.

"Theta!" Evie cried out running to the console in synch with her brother to attempt to find out what was going on with it.

Something was pulling them somewhere and there was no way for either The Doctor or Evie to stop it.

_**XX**_

_**So, this was quicker than I thought it might have been, but it also took over a month. Mostly because I was doing NaNoWriMo.**_

_**It's also a bit shorter than I might have liked, but we see a bit more about who Evie is as a Time Lady, and since many of the Time Lords and Ladies from The Doctor's generation had names besides their own I took a little bit of liberty and made it so that all Time Lords take a title to hide their true name. It's just that The Master committed some terrible crimes and The Doctor was written out of their family's book (for being half-human), so they don't have another name they can use.**_

_**Evie is The Lady, but The Doctor continues to call her Mara for the most part, but after her time as a human he now also uses Evie.**_

_**Anyways, sorry for the wait before, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**_


End file.
